This prompted me to start my article with a feeling of melancholy since the accident I am going to discuss took place in July 2024. The event occurred in the center of the town, a life was lost, and many issues were left unresolved. The main scene of this tragedy was a test drive with a man who worked as a salesman in Texas. The man was under the influence of both alcohol and cocaine.
A customer, together with a salesman, participated as parties in the accident case. Kenneth Salas serves as the salesman who provided service to Benjamin Meece, who has reached the age of 37. The customer, together with the salesman, experienced a 2021 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack during its test drive procedure. Meece was driving at 124mph (200km/hour) on a fine day when the unthinkable was about to happen. He crashed into a car in which 47-year-old Quma Carrillo was driving, and the event unfortunately ended in the lady’s death. Three children of the deceased Hector Carrillo have also sued Meece and Salas, the defendant and the concerned car dealership, for wrongful death.
What impressed me most was the conduct of Salas on the particular day of operation. From the records of the court, he was often coming to work late, and his blood alcohol concentration after the accident was 0.13. Salas mentioned in his deposition that he contacted Meece six hours before the plane accident. The findings from toxicology tests revealed that the dead man had cocaine present in his body. Salas failed to intervene to prevent Meece from continuing to drive although he was aware of the dangerous situation.
To my mind, it is rather evident that Salas did not adhere to standard test drive procedures. The plaintiff in the lawsuit has accused the dealership of lower-than-expected sales and that Salas might be willing to sell at any cost. This pressure, together with his health condition, could have led to this sad incident occurring as a result of his poor health.
In addition to that, Meece was a person with a long criminal history related to drug sales. He had been arrested 25 times for matters such as car thefts, traffic(crimes) among them being reckless driving. The arrest records database contains a record of recklessness in driving as well as evasion of arrest. Given this, it is difficult for one to rationalize how such a high-risk taker was accorded an opportunity to take a test drive.
This was a great blow that should act as a reminder of the importance of exercising responsibility while in the sale of cars, as well as putting in place the necessary precautions. In a car accident, it is sad to contemplate that something as simple as taking the car for a test drive could have such a terrible, tragic ending. Perhaps this lawsuit could be able to give some form of justice to the family of Carrillo and should serve as a wake-up call to the government to review existing laws and come up with tighter measures in dealing with auto sales businesses.
This has brought about the need to bring in more supervision and monitoring mechanisms within automobile sales companies. The safety of all people who get into the car during test drives should not be compromised in any way whatsoever. Only then will we be able to avoid such a fateful tragedy in the future.
Source: Carscoops
