Harvest Youngblood Killed in Pedestrian Accident in Lubbock, TX
UPDATE (November 15, 2023): In recent statements, authorities allege that Harvest Youngblood had a blood-alcohol content of over three times the legal limit when the collision occurred. Just to be clear, I am not bringing this up to criticize the victim or to upset anyone. On the contrary, that new piece of information, if true, makes me wonder if a local alcohol provider illegally over-served the victim and contributed to his death.
Let me give an example from a wrongful death case I handled against a bar not too long ago. The initial details about that accident were that a man was walking home from the bar when he accidentally stumbled down a steep embankment, suffering fatal injuries as a result. Everyone reading about was all too pleased to just blame the victim, criticize him for getting drunk, and moving on. Even authorities figured that was all there was to the story.
But when we investigated the bar that served the man, we found they recklessly over-served him well beyond the point of obvious intoxication. He could barely walk out the door, let alone get home safely. In Texas, that's illegal, and it meant that bar opened themselves up to possible liability, criminal charges, fines, and other penalties for their role in the man's death. After all, it's not like the victim got behind the wheel of an automobile. They just tried to walk home. But since the bar they were are couldn't be bothered to follow the law, someone lost their life.
I certainly can't say right now whether or not anything like that happened here. But I worry that, like the example above, folks may have just written the victim off without so much as a second thought. Did authorities do that, as well, or did they actually investigate the possibility there's more to this story?
Lubbock, TX — September 5, 2023, Harvest Youngblood was killed in a collision with an SUV around 10:05 p.m. on Dover Ave. in Lubbock.
According to investigators, the victim was walking with his bicycle north along Dover Avenue when he was struck by a westbound SUV on 19th Street. Mr. Youngblood, 63, was reportedly transported to University Medical Center, but later succumbed on Wednesday, September 6, to the injuries sustained in the collision.
Official have not said if the SUV driver will face any charges, or what factors led up to this crash.
