Recently, a woman in the Chicago suburbs was driving while doing a live stream on Tik Tok. As she was smiling in the camera and responding to comments, a loud thud can be heard on the video followed by the driver saying: “F@ck, f@ck, f@ck, I just hit somebody”. A child in the vehicle asks what happened and then the video was disconnected. The driver remained at the scene until authorities arrived but unfortunately the man that she hit died from his injuries. Let’s look at some of the legal ramifications of this tragedy.
In Tennessee, by statute, it is illegal to drive while holding your phone. The news reports of this incident do not indicate whether the driver was using a hands-free phone mount or if she was holding her phone. But even if she was using a phone mount and not holding her phone, Tennessee statutory law requires a driver to devote their “full time and attention” to driving. If you are looking at your phone to record a video and respond to comments (even if she was doing it verbally), this driver was not giving her full time and attention to the act of driving.
Pursuant to Tennessee law, if you violate a statute such as the two mentioned above, you can be found negligent per se, which means that establishing a civil claim against you is significantly easier. Essentially, negligence per se means you have been found negligent and the only remaining requirements are (1) to prove that the injured person was within the class of persons the laws were designed to protect and (2) damages. Without a doubt, the laws prohibiting hand-held cellphone use and requiring drivers devote their full time and attention to driving are intended to protect other drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, so that hurdle is easy to meet. In this case, a man was killed so there is no doubt that damage was caused by this driver. In short, the family of the injured man has a strong case against the driver of this vehicle.
In addition, if a judge or a jury determines this woman’s actions were “reckless” as opposed to merely “negligent”, this woman could be found responsible for punitive damages in the civil case. Punitive damages are designed to do more than compensate the victim. They are designed to punish.
Furthermore, this driver will likely face criminal charges and fines. A District Attorney might choose to charge her with vehicular assault, vehicular homicide or reckless driving because she killed a man as a result of her choice to shoot a livestream video of herself and interact with commentators while driving. Because she had children in the car, she might also be charged with child endangerment.
Unfortunately, this woman is not an isolated event; reports indicate this is a growing trend. Parents, please talk with your teenage drivers about the dangers of this type of behavior behind the wheel. Adults, please think of the consequences. You could hurt or kill someone. You could go to jail. You could jeopardize your custody of your children if they are in the car with you while you do this. For fans of TikTok and other platforms, if you see a content creator driving while interacting with the app, quit watching as a way to disincentivize this type of dangerous behavior.
As always, we are here if you need us.