Practicing in a metropolitan area, an experienced Washington DC DUI lawyer is likley to see many cases of famous persons who have been accused of operating while impaired charges. A NCAA assistant football coach was involved in a massive car accident on May 17th, 2008 on the Highway--his Jeep Commander had hit the end of a Volkswagen Passat. When law enforcement officials arrived on the scene, they asked the coach to turn off his motor. However, he instead shot forward again into the Passat.
Police determined that coach Dave Watson, 31, was operating while impaired, as his speech was slurred and he was not coherently responding to questions. Watson was uninjured, but was too intoxicated to take a sobriety test; police believed that he would fall down and hurt himself. The driver of the Passat however, was not as lucky. Alaric Valentin, 54, was holding his back immediately following impact. Since the accident he has filed personal injury suits against Watson and the university he represents due to numbness in his left foot, pain in his lower back, as well as a disc protusion.
Following a search of Watson's vehicle, law enforcement officials found four separate bottles of prescription painkillers including a ninety tablet prescription for Norco (a Vicodin-like drug), which was filled that morning. According to police, at the time of the accident, there were only eighty-three pills left in the bottle. In addition, Watson eventually admitted to taking three muscle relaxer pills prior to the accident. He was charged with a DUI and received three years probation.
Watson admitted under oath what his closest friends and family already knew: he had developed an addiction to prescription pain medication since his days playing college football. He testified that he received the medication from doctors associated with both the university and the football team. Watson also informed the court that he told both his mother and head coach Pete Carroll about his severe addiction to painkillers in February 2008--three months prior to the car crash.
However, Carrol did not fire Watson until after he was formally charged with a DUI, despite the fact that he knew about his problem with prescription medications. For this reason, Valentin's attorneys are now including Carrol as a party to the lawsuit. As pointed out in correspondence with the school's counsel, Carrol "is the direct supervisor of Mr. Watson... had actual notice of Mr. Watson's prescription pill addiction, had actual notice that Mr. Watson was using a car provided by the USC, had actual notice that USC team doctors were writing the prescriptions for the drugs Mr. Watson was addicted, and nonetheless continued to allow Mr. Watson to use the company car."
This article is presented by Price Benowitz, LLP, representing clients in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, please visit our Maryland DUI Lawyers and Virginia DUI Lawyer websites.
