Driver in fatal motorcycle crash outside of Sun City sued for wrongful death
The widow of the man who was killed outside of Sun City last month is suing the driver of the car that struck her husband’s motorcycle for wrongful death.
Marco Antonio Rodriguez-Vasquez, of Okatie, died at the scene at U.S. 278 and Sun City Boulevard around 4:10 p.m. Oct. 4.
His wife, Miranda Compton Rodriguez, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver on Nov. 12 in the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas.
The woman driving a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser west on U.S. 278 struck Rodriguez-Vasquez’s 2005 Yamaha motorcycle, which was traveling east, as she was turning left on Sun City Boulevard into the Sun-City Hilton Head neighborhood, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The driver “failed to yield the right of way” to Rodriguez-Vasquez when her vehicle fatally struck him, according to the lawsuit.
At the time of the collision, the woman was “operating her motor vehicle in an unsafe manner,” according to the lawsuit. Specifically, the lawsuit accuses the woman of failing to keep her car under control, failing to apply her brakes in time, failing to keep a proper lookout, and “failing to use the degree of care and caution that a reasonable and prudent person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances.”
The woman was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, an SCHP official previously told the Island Packet.
Rodriguez, on behalf of Rodriguez-Vasquez’s estate, including their three children, is suing for actual and punitive damages, court costs and attorney fees, according to the lawsuit.
As of Wednesday, the crash remained under investigation, and no charges have been filed against the driver, according to SCHP spokesperson Lance Cpl. Matt Southern.
Roberts “Tabor” Vaux Jr. is representing Rodriguez in the lawsuit.
Since Oct. 1, Beaufort County has had at least four fatal vehicle accidents, and five people have died. So far this year, 15 people have died in accidents on Beaufort County roads.
On Oct. 28, two Beaufort women died in a three-car accident in Okatie. That crash is also still under investigation.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 11:23 AM.
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