7 injured in New York car accident

A chain reaction accident involving five vehicles has injured seven people according to local sources. New York police responded to the car accident on the morning of Dec. 28 in Onondaga County. So far, police have not filed charges against any of the drivers involved, though the investigation is still underway. However, this could change as the case progresses.

According to the accident report, a vehicle traveling southbound swerved into a second southbound lane to attempt to avoid another car leaving a grocery store parking lot. This caused the swerving car to strike a third vehicle. Those two cars then swerved into the northbound lanes, striking a fourth car which then struck a fifth. 

Apparently, the vehicle leaving the grocery store did not suffer any damage and the driver was uninjured. However, the seven injured people were transported to local hospitals for treatment. The details are not known, but none of their injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

If New York police determine that the driver leaving the parking lot violated the right of way of the oncoming driver, that driver could be cited for a traffic violation and/or face criminal charges. Separately, up to all seven injured parties could sue for personal injury in civil court, naming as defendant/s the driver or drivers whose negligence precipitates the car accident. These civil claims require proof of negligence that is found to meet a burden of proof characterized as a preponderance of the evidence, significantly less than the burden of proof required in criminal proceedings.

Source: syracuse.com, “7 people injured in 5-car chain-reaction crash in Clay“, Samantha House, Dec. 28, 2015