Yes, New Orleans’ Mardi Gras is world famous, but if you have lived in Louisiana for more than a few years, you know that, for us, it does not even crack the top ten annual events. Mardi Gras has got nothing on Jazz Fest, the Essence Festival, Super Bowl watch parties at your neighbor’s house, Saint Patrick’s Day, the feast day of whichever saint your church is named after, the Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St. Francis, the musical proceedings on the Feast of St. Cecilia or whenever else we feel like it, and eating the last Christmas cookie of the year just before heading to Winn-Dixie to buy the year’s first King Cake.
The tourist guidebooks speak in vague terms of the diverse cultural demographics of Louisiana, but they do not do it justice; they do not know the half of it. For the real fun, attend an outdoor festival in a parish that people from out of state don’t know about. By this logic, celebrating the Lao New Year in Iberia Parish should be pure joy, but drunk driving can put a damper on even the most joyous of Louisiana’s events, and that is what happened this year. If you got hit by a car while attending an outdoor festival in Louisiana, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.
15 Festival Attendees Injured After Drunk Driver Loses Control of Car and Drives Into Crowd
Many cultural groups in South and Southeast Asia celebrate the new year at the beginning of the monsoon season in April. The Lao community in Louisiana observes Pi Mai Lao, the Lao New Year, on Easter weekend, with a three-day festival featuring music and dancing to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. On April 4, a devastating accident disrupted the Lao New Year festivities in New Iberia as a drunk driver lost control of his or her car and drove into a crowd of festival attendees. 15 people required ambulance transportation to the hospital, and of those, two patients were airlifted to other hospitals upon arrival. Other participants suffered injuries not serious enough to require ambulance transport. The city canceled the rest of the evening’s festival events, including live music performances, after the accident.
News reports did not identify the driver who caused the accident or say whether the at-fault driver received criminal charges for DWI or any other offenses. Regardless of whether the driver is charged or convicted, the injured people have the right to file personal injury claims and seek compensation for their injury-related expenses. They may be able to file claims against the city if it turns out that the layout of the festival did not do enough to protect pedestrians from vehicular traffic.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Personal Injury Cases
A personal injury lawyer can help you if you were injured in a preventable accident at a festival where cars and pedestrians were too close to each other. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.
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