The Orlando Sentinel recently reported about a young University of Florida student from Longwood who was hit by a car as she crossed a Gainesville street on her bicycle. Apparently, the accident was originally a hit-and-run, as the motorist involved in the accident left Rebecca Harris lying in the road with broken bones and head trauma. Ms. Harris was rushed to Shands where she remained in the hospital until last week when she finally succumbed to her injuries.
The driver of the car, Jessica Becerra, also a University of Florida student, was later apprehended and was originally charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries. It will be interesting to see if the State of Florida charges her with vehicular homicide now that Ms. Harris has passed away.
As a Florida car accident and wrongful death lawyer with four children of my own, I know how devastating the loss of a child can be to a family. From a civil law perspective, I hope that Ms. Becerra carried plenty of bodily injury liability coverage on her car. In the event that Ms. Becerra’s parents owned her car, I hope they had plenty of coverage to respond in damages to this senseless act of negligence.
I also hope that Ms. Harris and her parents had the foresight to purchase plenty of Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) coverage. Even though Ms. Harris was not in a car at the time of the crash (she was on a bicycle), whatever UM coverage applied to her household can be used to satisfy her damages. It would be even better from the Harris family if they had stacking UM coverage.
If you have any questions about a Florida car accident or Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage, please call Winter Park personal injury lawyers Kim Cullen and Robert Hemphill at 407-644-4444.
