Man Injured After Helping a Stranded Driver in Jacksonville, Florida
A man stopped to help a woman who had car trouble on Atlantic Boulevard near University Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida and was ultimately run over by the woman's vehicle while trying to help her according to an article on News4Jax.com. The man helped the woman, and then after he got the car to start, the car ran over him. The man was injured and taken to Shands Hospital.
When a person stops to help another driver whose is having car trouble, he/she is entitled to the same reasonable standard of safety as any other driver on the road. In other words, if a person stops to help another driver, that other driver must take every reasonable step to make sure the person trying to fix the vehicle is not injured by the vehicle. If he/she does something negligent or unsafe and the good samaritan is injured, the good samaritan can make a claim with the other driver's insurance company or file a lawsuit for damages just like any other driver injured in a traffic accident. The article does not indicate how or why the good samaritan was run over by the stranded driver's car. However, in a case like this, the stranded driver must make sure the car is turned off and/or not capable of moving when the good samaritan is attempting to fix it. If the stranded driver was negligent in allowing the car to move while the good samaritan was in the vulnerable position of trying to fix it, the stranded driver would likely be responsible for the injuries caused by the stranded driver's vehicle.
