Fulton County accident claims the lives of 4 teens
Authorities in Georgia have reported that four teenagers were killed and a fifth was left severely injured when an SUV was struck by a semi-tractor trailer in Fulton County on the afternoon of April 24. Police reports indicate that the SUV ran a red light immediately prior to the collision, which took place at the intersection of Butner and Ridge Roads and Campbellton-Fairburn Road in Fairburn at approximately 1:17 p.m.
The five teens, who were all students at the nearby Langston Hughes High School, were traveling in a Lincoln Navigator SUV at the time of the crash. The 16-year-old boy behind the wheel was ejected by the force of the collision according to reports, and he was pronounced dead at the scene by rescue workers along with his three male passengers aged 16, 15 and 14. Initial reports did not indicate whether alcohol consumption or drug use played a role.
A 16-year-old girl who had been sitting in the SUV’s third-row seat survived the car accident in Atlanta, and she was transported by paramedics to an area hospital with severe head and leg injuries. She was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Wrongful death lawsuits can be especially challenging when the lives of children or young adults have been lost. The damages awarded in this type of litigation are based in part in some cases on the future earning capacity of the deceased individual, but this can be difficult to quantify when the victim was killed before entering the workforce. In these situations, experienced personal injury attorneys may introduce evidence such as grade averages and college admissions to establish the likely career trajectory of the victims.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “3 teens killed in crash weren’t wearing seat belts; survivor out of coma”, Raisa Habersham, April 27, 2017