South Carolina Child Injury Lawyer Blog

As noted by your Charleston lawyers in the Howell and Christmas, LLC South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog, April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Concurrently, April is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Dee Norton Lowcountry Children's Center and Darkness to Light are doing their part to prevent child sexual abuse by holding a free training session to educate area residents on how to recognize and respond to incidents of abuse. The session is open to anyone (parents, coaches, camp counselors, etc.) and participants will become certified in Darkness to Light's "Stewards of Children" prevention program, learning how to spot signs and symptoms of child abuse, as well as when and how to report discovered incidents of abuse.

A Post and Courier announcement of the training session notes that the event is, in part, a response to a recent editorial in which the paper called for more community training to help individuals recognize and respond to abuse. Also, the Charleston area has been plagued by a number of incidents of child pornography, criminal sexual conduct, and child sexual abuse, particularly the high-profile case against a former coach, counselor, and educator who has been accused of molesting at least 23 children in the Charleston area.

The event is to be held at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church, 302 Hibben St., from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on April 28. The Post and Courier notes that space for the training session is limited and pre-registration is required at www.dnlcc.org.

Continue reading "April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Some Considerations for Prom Season" »

While browsing internet news sources your Charleston drunk driving accident lawyers read a tragic article that makes one wonder how some individuals can willfully put, not only their own life, but the lives of children in immediate danger. The Chicago Tribune reported that a 47-year-old woman, while driving drunk, lost control of her 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass when she attempted to pick up a fallen potato chip. At the time of the Memorial Day crash there were a total of 8 people were crammed into the Cutlass, which only seats five, four of which were young children. Because of the car was well over capacity none of the children were wearing seat belts, much less a car seat.

According to prosecutors, after losing control of the '93 Olds the car crashed into a guard rail and proceeded to spin around 7 times. Prior to the fatal auto accident, witnesses said they noticed the car swerving, and afterwards, State Police found a number of open beer cars inside the car. Reportedly the driver told the responding officers that she had been "drinking a lot of beer" at a barbeque before getting into the car, but the open cans within the vehicle suggest she, or one of the other passengers, had taken beers to drink on the road.

The female driver has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence (DUI) for an accident causing death and reckless homicide and held on $350,000 bond. Also according to the prosecutors, the woman's blood alcohol content was registered at .164, more than double the legal limit.

Continue reading "Drunk Driver Crashes Car Filled Beyond Capacity, Child Killed and Three Others Critically Injured" »

Charleston child injury lawyers recently took notice of a study released by The Partnership at Drugfree. The study's finding were quite astonishing, and a bit disturbing, teens today see downing 5 or more alcoholic drinks almost every day as not a big deal. When teens were asked if they see a "great risk" in consuming that amount of alcohol on regular basis, 45 percent of the teen respondents didn't see it as a big problem.

While this study shows that today's teens do not view heavy drinking as a serious threat, the percentage of teens drinking is actually on the decline. An article on the study reported by the Post and Courier quotes the former chairman of the American Medical Association as saying, "It's important that we not lose sight of the progress our country has made in fighting underage drinking," and, "U.S. government data shows underage drinking and binge drinking are at record low levels."

But, even with this progress, the car accident attorneys at Howell and Christmas, LLC, being parents themselves, want to stress the importance of being involved with your children as a means of protecting your child from destructive behavior. The earlier kids start drinking the more likely they are to get involved in other unsafe behaviors.

Continue reading "South Carolina Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys Talk Teens and Drinking" »

On a cold night in late December, a car carrying 4 teens was traveling at high speed down West Shiloh Unity Road in Lancaster, SC. The fatal car crash occurred after the car took a 45 MPH turn at speeds in excess of 119 Miles per hour. The car apparently went airborne, snapping a telephone pole and then came to rest approximately a football fields length away. During the crash, a 15-year old girl was killed after she was ejected from the car, this as a result of her seat belt not being properly fastened. The other two teens in the car were injured and the boy himself suffered severe head and neck injuries and underwent surgery at Carolinas Medical Center. The boy was charged with Reckless Homicide and a violation of Restricted License.

The crash occurred on Dec 29th, 2009 and investigators believe that the driver's inexperience and the high speed of the car were the primary factors involved in the incident. The driver, 16 had a restricted drivers permit. Under SC law, permit holders are only allowed to drive between 6 am and 6pm, carrying a maximum of two minors in the car. In the case of this crash, both of those restrictions were violated by the teen boy. The boy plead guilty to Reckless Homicide and Violation of a Restricted License. He will be evaluated by the Department of Juvenile Justice and then be sentenced. He will lose his Driver's License for a duration of 5 years and will be under house arrest, monitored by an electronic bracelet. After sentencing he could also serve time with the Department of Juvenile Justice until he is 21.

Excessive speed and the inexperience of young drivers are often cited factors in fatal crashes. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration states that almost 32% of crashes are caused by drivers aged 21 and younger. A Key factor in this case was the apparent ignorance of the boy's parents of his whereabouts the night of the crash. Charleston child injury lawyers want to urge the public to pay special care to their child's behavior and activities when they are just learning to operate a motor vehicles.

Sources: The State, " Lancaster teen pleads guilty in death of girl, 15" Kimberly Dick, The Rock Hill Herald

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration

South Carolina child death lawyers advise state citizens and locals to demand their representatives to install the Child Death Review board in their local community. A child's death is traumatizing for the family and heartbreaking for the community. Many times these deaths could have been easily prevented. In order to make proactive changes many states and local communities have formed a Child Death Review system that will help pinpoint changes parents, guardians, and members of the community can make to prevent future child fatalities.

In 1978 a multi-agency review of unexplained child deaths began in Los Angeles, California. In 1997 there were multi-disciplinary teams in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, that investigated children deaths. Typically these teams included a coroner, social services, law enforcement, medical representatives, child protective services, and mental health.

Today some states have expanded their multi-disciplinary teams from the original statewide team. These states have formed the teams that work within a community and then report their findings to the state multi-disciplinary team. The state team serves as a data collection team that reviews information and then suggests new legislation to state representatives and areas for law enforcement to focus on. This system has proven to work best because it is unrealistic for a state team to conduct a thorough investigation of all child deaths throughout the entire state. Local teams vary due to county population size and city population size. Sometimes one team will oversee multiple counties, as well as multiple teams may be needed for large counties.

These teams have been proven to be effective, because they can spend more time conducting a detailed investigation of the death of a child than law enforcement can. These findings are then are reviewed and transformed into precautionary tips that are released to the community. Child fatalities are typically preventable and the team's tips remind locals of easy precautions they can take that can save a child's life. If your community does not have a Child Death Review system currently in action write your local representatives and request them to look into the system.

Source: Injury Prevention Web-AInjury Prevention Policy- "Child Death Review and Injury Prevention."March 23, 2010.