Drunk driving has long been perceived as a significant problem on America’s roads. Long gone are the days when someone leaving a restaurant or bar would “have one for the road.” And much of the reduction in the nation’s highway fatalities from the 1980s is the result of stricter enforcement of driving while intoxicated laws.

But it is still seen as a serious problem and more than 10,000 deaths are attributed to drivers who are intoxicated. In addition, this tends to cause the police in most jurisdictions to continue to engage in aggressive enforcement of the DWI laws.

Crashes still happen, and if you are charged with a DWI in a crash where someone died, you could face severe penalties. In Missouri, if your case was charged Class B felony, you  could be facing a sentence as long as 15 years in state prison.

A man in St. Charles was involved in a crash last weekend with a motorcycle that resulted in the death of the motorcycle driver. According to the news report, he ran a stop sign and struck the motorcycle.

This is the second fatal accident involving this man in the last year, as he was driving another vehicle that crashed into a pond and his passenger died in the accident. He was charged with a DWI in that incident.

He was not charged with involuntary manslaughter in the first crash, as the prosecutor noted that there was insufficient evidence to support that charge. In the crash from last weekend, he has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. Additional charges could still be filed in the most recent crash. (Cont.)

Source: stltoday.com, “Man charged in fatal weekend crash in St. Charles faces DWI charge from deadly October wreck,” Susan Welch, July 7, 2015