• 17
  • February
    2012

It was because 49-year-old Daniel Webb owned the pickup truck - not because he was actually driving it - that led to criminal charges against him, in a case involving intoxication manslaughter.

As Kevin Grasha reports for the Lansing State Journal, the prosecutor in the case said that Webb was "willing to let somebody else get behind the wheel." As it happens, both Webb and his friend Cody White had been drinking.

White's blood alcohol content at the time of the accident was twice the legal limit.

White pulled out from a stop, in front of 23-year-old Benjamin Bradley's motorcycle. Bradley hit the pickup and died. Bradley's passenger was seriously injured.

In Texas, intoxication manslaughter is a serious offense. (This case, however, happened in Charlotte.) Regardless of where such an offense occurs, it's not often that passengers are held criminally liable for injuries or deaths attributed to an impaired driver.

In this case, it was clear the prosecutor felt the owner of the pickup truck was vicariously responsible for Bradley's death; Webb allowed his friend, who he knew had been drinking, to get behind the wheel.

Source: Eaton Rapids owner of truck in fatal drunk driving crash sentenced