Vikki McInerney, Sonja Cobb, Elvin Gomez Guzman Injured in Car Accident in Rockwall, TX
Rockwall, TX -- May 29, 2022, Vikki McInerney, Sonja Cobb, and Elvin Gomez Guzman were injured as the result of a car accident.
Preliminary investigations said that the crash took place at around 1:12 a.m. along Highway 276 off Rochell Road. In their reports, authorities said that 43-year-old Vikki McInerney was driving a Chevy Traverse eastbound on Highway 276. At Rochell, a northbound pickup reportedly failed to yield, causing a collision between the two vehicles.
A passenger in McInerney's vehicle, identified as 44-year-old Sonja Cobb, reportedly had incapacitating injuries. McInerney was said to have non-incapacitating injuries. The pickup driver, identified in reports as Elvin Gomez Guzman, also reportedly had incapacitating injuries.
Right now, authorities are looking into the possibility alcohol was involved in the crash. This and other details have yet to be confirmed.
Commentary on Vikki McInerney, Sonja Cobb, Elvin Gomez Guzman Car Accident in Rockwall
While it can't be confirmed right now, any claim of alcohol is a claim worth taking seriously. Obviously, there can be significant consequences for that driver, but there could be even more to it. Texas has laws which make it crucial for victims and families to know if a local alcohol provider over-served a drunk driver that caused an accident. This is due to dram shop law.
In Texas, dram shop law says that an alcohol provider who over-serves an obviously intoxicated person can be liable for damages resulting from that intoxication. For example, I handled a situation a while back where a man turned into oncoming traffic and hit a family's car head-on, injuring their young son. Our investigations showed he'd been drinking at a happy hour nearby, and evidence made it clear he could barely walk to and from the bathroom without nearly falling over due to his obvious intoxication. That bar continued serving him, though, and they were ultimately liable for breaking the law and contributing to a serious accident.
Again, it's possible nothing like that happened here, but this is an area of law folks deserve to know about. Authorities rarely discuss, and even others in my profession do little to inform the public of their rights. Taking these opportunities is not a way to blame anyone or to speculate about what happened in a given crash. It's simply to shed light on a unique tool that victims and families could use to get the help they deserve. Are steps being taken here to at least find out if that tool can be used here?
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