Veteran Convicted of Fatal DUI Accident
When someone drinks and drives, it isn’t just themselves that they are affecting. Choosing to drive under the influence of alcohol can have tragic consequences that can affect anyone else on the road and their families as well.
Christopher Masferrer, 33, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan chose to drink and drive in the spring of 2014 and ended up taking the lives of three people in an accident. On Thursday, he stood before the court that convicted him and faced the three families of the three people who lost their lives to his carelessness.
“Those three people should not have died. I should not have gotten behind the wheel of that car. I can’t go backwards. I can’t change what I’ve done,” he said.
In April of 2014 in Southwest Miami, after Masferrer had been out drinking with friends, he got behind the wheel while intoxicated and crashed his vehicle three people; two of them high school students. Eduardo Hernandez, 45, Caroline Agreda, 17 and Anapaula Saldana, 17, were all killed in the accident where Masferrer had been driving 70 miles per hour.
Hernandez had pulled over to assist the two teens who were having car trouble at the intersection of Southwest 157th Avenue and Miller Drive.
Masferrer was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by eight years of parole and the loss of driving privileges for life. He was charged with three counts of DUI manslaughter.
“I can tell you — I wish I had died that night,” he told the families.
For the families of the victims, that is little consolation to the pain that never seems to end.
After he was sentenced, Masferrer’s attorney Frank Schwartz, indicated that Masferrer had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, for which he takes medication and is now showing clear signs of PTSD from his tour in Afghanistan, Schwartz said. That was something that the military ignored.
The tragedy seems to never end in drunken driving cases, especially if there are casualties involved.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or tragically lost in an accident involving a drunken driver, you have our deepest sympathies for your loss. Having an attorney working for you after a tragic or even fatal accident is important in order to see that your rights are protected.
If this describes your situation, please contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your case. We have years of experience in personal injury and accident cases in the Miami-Dade area.
While nothing can ever adequately compensate you for the pain and suffering or the tragic loss of a loved one, we understand and are here for you. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation and legal analysis. There is no obligation.