According to Trooper Robert Purdy, a state police spokesman, Campbell went to check on Meredith Buscher. Her car was hit in the mayhem. After 90 minutes to two hours, Madison County Coroner Jimmy Cornelison told Mrs. Campbell that her husband was dead. No charges are expected against the motorist who hit Campbell. The motorist was identified as Clifford Steinhauer, age 41 and from Fort Thomas. However, state police charged Bryan Mangan, the man who triggered the collision, with aggravated drunk driving, nine counts of wanton endangerment, driving on a suspended license and driving negligently without a license. It was reported that Mangan, age 56 and from South Bend, Indiana, was allegedly driving drunk when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a guardrail along I-75 about two miles north of Richmond.
How is aggravated drunk driving committed?
Under KRS 189A.010 (11), aggravated drunk driving is committed when the following circumstances are present:
- Over 30 miles per hour speed limit
- Going in the wrong direction on a limited access highway
- Causes an accident resulting in death or serious physical injury
- Alcohol concentration in the operator’s blood or breath is 0.15 or more within two hours after operating a vehicle
- Refusal to submit to any test or tests of one’s blood, breath or urine
- Transporting a passenger under 12 years of age
In the accident mentioned earlier, the aggravating circumstances were: the accident resulted in death or serious physical injury and alcohol level of .15 or more. These aggravating circumstances result in higher minimum jail time.
Statistics
According to statistics:
- Every day in America, another 28 people die because of a drunk driver.
- Almost every 90 seconds a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.
- In 2011, 226 children died in drunk driving crashes. In 2012, 10,322 people were killed – one about every 51 minutes.
As a Kentucky Fatal Accident Attorney, I know these injuries and deaths are hard to cope with for the families. I have said these several times but I want to repeat again. If you have been out drinking and need to get home, don’t drive. Ask someone to drive you home or call a cab. The consequences of drunk driving are serious and fatal. It’s not worth the risk.