Recently, a 17-year-old Louisiana boy was hit by a car while riding his bicycle on Louisiana Highway 182 near Jeanerette. The bicycle vs. car wreck occurred at 9:15 p.m., and police say the bicycle did not have any type of lights on it. The teen was pronounced dead at Iberia General Hospital.
The bicyclist was about 4 feet from the solid white line at the right edge of the roadway when he was hit. The 73-year-old driver of the Kia Sorrento that hit the bicycle was not injured. Authorities say that the investigation is ongoing, and they are awaiting the results of routine toxicology tests.
It is not known what charges, if any, may be filed in connection with this accident. Meanwhile, the family of the victim is left to prematurely bury their loved one. As the family struggles to come to terms with the shock of the 17-year-old’s death, they retain the right to file a wrongful death action against the driver.
Regardless of whether any criminal charges are filed by authorities, the family of this young man can turn to our state civil courts to seek financial relief in connection with this tragic car wreck. Even though it won’t bring back this 17-year-old, whose life had practically just begun, a successful lawsuit may help the family recover the financial losses that inevitably accompany an accident such as this. Medical expenses, funeral costs and the like are recoverable under Louisiana law when negligence on the part of another party is established in court as the proximate cause of the fatal accident.
