Defendant claims fainting is valid excuse for the death of five children
Attorney
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Is a driver liable if he passes out at the wheel and injures someone?
The answer in North Carlina is: it depends.
A driver is obligated to operate his vehicle as a reasonable prudent person would do. If he fails to act in that manner and if someone is injured by that failure, that driver is responsible for all injuries that result
If a driver has absolutely no reason to believe that he may be subject to passing out at the wheel and if the unexpected occurs, he would not be civilly liable to the victim who is injured because he passed out at the wheel.
On the other hand if the driver has a condition which has resulted in his passing out in the past and if he has reason to suspect that he may pass out again, he probably would be held liable if someone is injured because he became unconscious, and looses control of his car.
It could be argued successfully that a reasonable prudent would not drive if he is subject to passing out.
This is a common problem with sufferers of epilepsy.
A recent tragic criminal case involved the death of five children from the same family.
According to his lawyer, a Washington man charged with causing a traffic accident that resulted in the wrongful death of five children and personal injury of one man suffered a fainting spell at the wheel. According to the prosecution, there was no indication of an attempt by Clifford Helm to stop or slow his truck.
Though the relatives of the dead children may have forgiven Helm, he has been charged by prosecutors with five counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault due to the November 1, 2005 crash.
Five children, ages 12, 10, 8, 5, and 2, were killed in the crash north of Spokane, Washington.
According to the prosecutor, the accident scene reconstruction showed Helm's erratic driving into the median of the highway and into oncoming traffic took about 17 seconds and went the length of five football fields. They said that Helm was driving at 60 miles per hour the whole time and took no action to stop or slow his vehicle.
According to Clint Francis, Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor, Jeffrey Schrock, the driver of the other vehicle, saw the truck of Helm in the median and believed him to be a highway worker, but suddenly the truck veered into his lane, leaving him no time to react.
According to Francis, four of the children died instantly and the fifth struggled to breathe but died at the scene. Schrock received air transport to Spokane's Sacred Heart Medical Center where doctors examined him and found internal bleeding, shattered knees, a jaw broken in two places, and fractures throughout his body.