Man Pleads Guilty to DUI In Fatal April Car-Horse Crash

It's never a good idea to get behind the wheel of your vehicle when you are drunk. Sure, you could get into a wreck and cause property damage. You might also accidentally injure an innocent stranger in a collision. But that's not the worst that can happen: you could even kill someone you care about.
That's what happened last April in Will County. This week, a man pled guilty to a charge of aggravated drunken driving in connection with the death of his girlfriend in Crete Township.
The 42-year old man and the 25-year old woman were both horse trainers at Balmoral Park Racetrack. The two were drinking at an impromptu party on the racetrack grounds early on the morning of April 11 last year when the victim and a 21-year old horse groom left the party to go ride one of the horses. Later, the man got into his truck and began driving around the racetrack grounds looking for them in near-darkness. His truck hit the horse that the two women were riding, and the man's girlfriend died while the groom suffered serious injuries. A subsequent blood test revealed that the man's blood alcohol content was .147.
Certainly a car-horse accident is rare but the legal consequences can be quite common. The man won't be sentenced until March, but he may be named as a defendant in a future wrongful death lawsuit. Such a suit may force the man to reimburse the family for burial and medical costs, and also compensate them for lost future wages that the woman might have earned as a horse trainer had the accident not taken place. Because the 25-year old woman had a six-year old daughter, a jury may also choose to award damages for emotional distress and loss of care. There's even a chance that punitive damages could be part of the jury verdict because of the aggravated DUI charges. In addition, the injured groom could file a personal injury lawsuit against the man as well.