Drunk and High Driver Causes Serious Crash Injuries

A driver impaired by alcohol and drugs was driving a SUV west on Highway 126 toward Eugene-Springfield. In the car with him was his girlfriend, his three month old baby, and two other passengers. He was driving erratically long enough to capture the attention of an off duty police officer, who began to follow him with police lights engaged. The drunk and high driver suddenly and unexpectedly crossed the center line of the highway and crashed head-first into an oncoming Toyota Prius.

The Larsons were in the Prius, with Les driving. On that day, they had picked up their grandchildren from school and drove them to doctor appointments. They then met their daughter briefly to drop off the grandchildren before heading out to a nice dinner in Eugene. After dinner, as they were heading home, they both noticed the red and blue emergency lights of a police vehicle in the opposite lane coming towards them, attempting to pull over. Les slowed their Prius, expecting that the SUV and the police vehicle would pass by them. Instead, suddenly and without warning, the SUV turned into their lane and came toward them at high speed. Les barely had time to apply his brakes, and the crash was unavoidable. The SUV slammed directly into the Larson’s Prius hard enough to crush the front end of their car, and to cause their airbags to deploy.

Carrie Larson was knocked unconscious in the crash, and was dazed after she regained consciousness. She could not open her car door. She was fearful that the car would explode, but she was trapped inside the car. Les knew immediately that his right arm was severely injured, as he couldn’t move it and it was dangling by his side, but he knew he needed to get his wife out. Les got out of the car on the driver’s side and used his left arm to pull his wife out of the driver’s side of the car. Carrie also knew immediately that she was injured. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. There, she was diagnosed with a displaced fracture of the right clavicle (collarbone), a right rib fracture, hemorrhage and edema in the abdomen and pelvis area, possible contusion of the lungs, and severe seatbelt bruising.

Les’s arm was broken in two places, and he also sustained a rotator cuff tear in the shoulder, nerve damage to his forearm, and a fractured finger. At the hospital ER, he had to undergo emergency surgery on both his arm and shoulder, and he had to be given blood transfusions during his four-day hospital stay.

The driver that had hit them was arrested. Inhalants were discovered in his vehicle and the impaired driver was taken to jail and later indicted on multiple charges, including driving under the influence of intoxicants, three counts of assault in the 3rd degree, assault in the fourth degree, six counts of recklessly endangering another person, and reckless driving. That driver was later found to have been under the influence of inhalants at the time of the crash, and possibly had used other illicit drugs, in addition to drinking alcohol.

As seems often the case with impaired drivers, this driver had minimum assets and a minimum auto liability policy. We obtained policy limits settlements for Carrie and Les, then turned our attention to their Underinsured Motorist claims. Fortunately, the Larsons had purchased substantially more Underinsured Motorist (“UIM”) coverage than is typical. Their choice to purchase higher UIM limits to protect themselves and their family showed good foresight. One never knows when an irresponsible driver might cause harm, but there is some peace in mind knowing that one’s family is better protected.

While people think of UIM coverage as “their” insurance, when one makes an Underinsured Motorist claim, their insurance becomes an adverse party, and those proceedings can be highly contested. We eventually obtained Underinsured Motorists settlements for both Carrie and Les.

Client names and identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.