Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras refused to raise the bail of a state senator who may be suffering from the lingering effects of a brain injury.
Prosecutors wanted to increase 44-year-old Troy Brown’s bail from $5,000 to $25,000 as he awaits trial on charges stemming from a November fight with a woman characterized as Senator Brown’s “side friend.” Eight months later, authorities arrested Senator Brown again, this time after he allegedly bit his wife’s forearm during an argument. He says he is “not able to recall” the details of either incident, because of memory loss issues that began when he sustained a head injury in 1991.
Louisiana Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego) said that the chamber would remove Senator Brown (D-Ascension) from all his current committee assignments; Senator Alario also suggested that Senator Brown consider resigning.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Even though over 1.7 million Americans sustain a TBI every year, these injures are frequently misdiagnosed, and as a result, often not properly treated. Many TBIs occur in motor vehicle crashes, and the disorientation and nausea/vomiting that are frequently associated with brain injuries are often dismissed as shock from the car crash. Often, victims only seek treatment for TBIs when their symptoms persist for several days and they develop new ones, like headaches, memory loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and moodswings or personality changes. In time, victims eventually develop dementia-like symptoms and even die.
Motor vehicle crashes cause so many TBIs because when the vehicle comes to a sudden stop, people and objects inside the car keep moving at the same speed. It’s like being in a roller coaster: when the roller coaster suddenly swerves, the occupants keep going forward for a fraction of a second. That effect is multiplied at freeway speeds.
Crash-related TBIs, and all other brain injuries, require prompt diagnosis, aggressive medical treatment, and extended physical therapy, so victims are often entitled to significant compensation. This compensation includes money for economic damages, like medical bills, and noneconomic damages, like loss of consortium (companionship and contribution to household management).
TBIs often have life-altering consequences for victims, as well as their families and friends. For a free consultation with a diligent personal injury lawyer in Lake Charles, contact Hoffhoss Devall. Our attorneys are licensed in both Texas and Louisiana.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
More Football-Related Serious Injuries
The number of tour buses on American roads has roughly doubled since 1975, greatly increasing the odds of bus wrecks like one that occurred recently in the remote desert at the Arizona-Nevada border.
In that collision, a Dallas Cowboys’ bus that was taking non-player personnel and between fifty and seventy-five fans to a promotional event in Las Vegas, and then onto the team’s training camp facility in California, crashed into a passenger van; four occupants in the van, who were all foreign tourists, were killed. Investigators determined that the van failed to yield the right-of-way to the bus. [Read more…] about More Football-Related Serious Injuries
The Check Is In The Mail
After waiting almost a year for the insurance company to settle a routine car crash claim, a Louisiana man asked a state District Judge to intervene in the matter. Victims in Lafayette and Lake Charles who are still waiting on insurance companies to pay, and are forced to contemplate bad faith actions, can certainly sympathize with him.
In court documents, Patrick Constantine says that the other driver was clearly negligent in an August 2015 collision, and neither Geico nor United Services Automobile Association (USAA) have compensated him for his damages. [Read more…] about The Check Is In The Mail
A Tragic End To A Family Vacation
An 11-year-old boy was killed in a car crash as he returned to Lafayette from a trip to Alabama.
The wreck occurred in Foley, as Cameron Bailey was on the way home with a family friend from a vacation in Orange Beach. According to police, a male driver in a red pick-up truck, whose name was not released, apparently suffered from a medical emergency just before he swerved into oncoming traffic. Five other people were injured, including the SUV driver.
Mr. Bailey would have been in the sixth grade at Our Lady of Fatima School this fall. One of his former teachers at the school said that the people he came into contact with “will never forget Cameron’s smile.” [Read more…] about A Tragic End To A Family Vacation
In Louisiana, 'Stop' Means 'Stop'
A motorist who apparently either coasted through a stop sign, or failed to see it entirely, caused a severe car crash in Log Cabin.
According to officials in Morehouse Parish, 56-year-old Richard Lindeman Jr. of Bastrop, was westbound on Highway 140 when, for reasons that are still unclear, he failed to stop and yield the right-of-way at the U.S. Highway 425 intersection. He collided with 24-year-old Jessica Eppinette, of Bastrop, who was northbound on U.S. 425. [Read more…] about In Louisiana, 'Stop' Means 'Stop'
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
After a rash of crashes in Louisiana and elsewhere, officials are warning drivers not to play Pokémon Go while they are behind the wheel.
The game has been available on smartphones for less than a month and has already been downloaded millions of times in the United States alone. In the virtual reality-type game, players must physically run, walk, stop, and move in order to meet certain objectives. One Louisiana tow company said it pulled three cars out of ditches in one day, and all three vehicle owners were playing while driving. “She was pursuing a Pokémon character and, you know, missed her turn,” commented Walker Police Captain John Sharp, when speaking about one such incident. “You shouldn’t be doing this while you’re driving,” he added. [Read more…] about Gotta Catch ‘Em All