A Louisiana woman was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in an accident that killed a man and injured another. The fatal car crash took the life of a prison inmate and seriously injured a city of Alexandria employee.

The accident occurred when the woman swerved off the roadway and struck the two men. One was an inmate who was part of a sanitation crew that had been picking up trash. The other man was a city employee and was supervising the crew while sitting in a city truck. At the time of the accident, the woman was impaired after using five separate drugs and was also using her cellphone at the time of the accident.

At the sentencing portion, the woman's attorney said she had accepted the responsibility for the accident and pleaded for leniency in sentencing. The prosecutor fired back while asking for a harsh sentence and said the woman had taken several drugs before she plowed her vehicle into the cleanup crew. The results of the accident investigation showed there was no effort on the woman's part to apply her brakes before the accident occurred.

The man injured in the Louisiana crash has not been able to return to work due to the severity of his injuries. Although the woman has been held responsible on the criminal side, the injured victim and the family of the deceased victim likely have the right to file a legal claim against the woman. Any financial compensation received as a result can help pay medical costs incurred as well as funeral expenses for the deceased man. While it will likely not reduce the grief the families must feel or the pain caused by the injuries sustained in this fatal car crash, it could act as an additional measure of justice against the person who has wronged them while also providing an opportunity for reimbursement of damages sustained.

Source: KATC.com, "Woman sentenced to 10 years for vehicular homicide," April 30, 2012