A Toyota sedan was traveling northbound on Minnesota Highway 23. As it got to the intersection of East College Driver in Marshall, it crossed into the left turn lane and collided with two Harley Davidson motorcycles that were stopped at the light. One of them then collided with a third stopped Harley. The motorcycle riders, Daniel Bruce Flynn of Riverview, Michigan, and Wayne Thomas Patterson of Linwood, Michigan, both sustained life threatening injuries.
The driver of the Toyota car, Tamara Lee Harvel, may have been drinking alcohol prior to the collision, according to the state patrol preliminary report.
Assisting at the scene were the Marshall Police Department and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. The collision happened June 28, 2017 at about 8:40 p.m.
Was the Toytoa Driver Intoxicated and Can a Bar Also Be Sued?
It is extremely important to determine if and where Ms. Harvel had been drinking alcohol. Under Minnesota dram shop law, people injured by drunk drivers can sue a bar, restaurant or other business that served that driver alcohol before a crash. Our lawyers have helped many clients hold these businesses accountable for selling liquor to intoxicated people who then seriously injured or killed innocent people.
“The greatest relief was seeing Fred and Eric push for an explanation of what really happened,” one client told us. He and his family were represented by Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman, who recently won over $5 million for a man injured while riding his motorcycle.
The police may not take steps to determine if there is a dram shop claim because the owners of bars are generally not held criminally liable. However, any good personal injury lawyer in Minnesota will take legal steps to find out where the driver had been drinking and who sold her the alcohol.
Did She Cross the Solid White Line When Moving to the Left-Turn Lane?
Highway 23 has four lanes, and at this intersection it also has both left and right turn lanes. Vehicles are supposed to enter the left turn lane about a block before the intersection, and there is a solid line from this point of entrance to the stop lights. This solid line is an advisory marking that tells drivers it may not be safe to cross over it. It appears the driver of the Toyota car crossed that line, and that decision critically injured two people.
Determining if and why that line was crossed are important elements of this crash. Obviously, if the driver had been drinking, this may be the reason this happened.
With an accident like this one, it is important to get to the scene as soon as possible to look at any skid marks and take measurements based on impact placement. This can help determine exactly what happened.
Read other 2017 news.