Funerals Set for St. Louis-Area College Students Killed in Mississippi Car Accident

By December 26, 2013March 14th, 2022Auto Accidents

I was saddened to read that two young men from the St. Louis area lost their lives in a car crash while they were away at school. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that funerals were set soon after the crash for 18-year-old Kevin Eagan of St. Charles and 20-year-old Christopher Grimaud of St. Louis County. Both died in a car accident in Oxford, Mississippi early in the morning of November 9. Two survivors of the accident were also St. Louis-area Ole Miss students: 21-year-old Arthur Lueking and 19-year-old James Connors. The dean of students at Ole Miss said the university was shocked and saddened by the accident, whose cause was still being investigated when the statement was issued in early November.
Lueking was reportedly driving when the vehicle hit a median on Highway 7 in Oxford and flipped over. The vehicle was found upside down in a median when emergency responders arrived at 4:45 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Grimaud and Eagan were killed in the crash; Lueking was hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn. in stable condition. Connors, a nephew of tennis player Jimmy Connors, was treated for minor injuries and released. Eagan, Lueking and Connors were all graduates of the Christian Brothers College high school, where officials said Eagan was well-liked and would be missed. Grimaud was a graduate of St. Mary’s High School, whose president said the community sympathized with both students’ families. An investigation into the cause of the crash was ongoing.
It’s very sad when young people with their whole lives ahead of them lose their lives. Though nothing in the article expressly says so, it’s easy to assume that these young men were drinking, or at least the driver was, since they were college students and the hour was very late. If that’s true—and judgment should certainly be reserved until the investigation is complete—the driver could be criminally charged for the two deaths, even though he almost certainly didn’t intend to kill his friends. He could also be liable in any auto accident lawsuit the families of the two victims choose to file. In a wrongful death lawsuit, it doesn’t matter whether the defendant intended to cause a death—only that he was so negligent that the death was foreseeable.
At Carey, Danis & Lowe, we represent people across Missouri and southern Illinois who are seeking fair compensation for serious injuries from a car wreck that was not their fault. A serious accident can leave its victims dead, permanently disabled or injured badly enough to be out of work for months. This can cause serious problems for families that suffered these injuries—financial as well as medical. Not only do they typically deal with the pain and emotional anguish of the crash and the injuries, but they are often financially strained by the time away from work and the huge medical bills that start coming in. In a St. Louis motor vehicle accident lawsuit, you can ask the responsible driver to pay all of the financial costs of the crash, along with compensation for a lost loved one, a permanent disability or other catastrophic effects of the crash.


If you’d like to talk to an experienced attorney about your rights and your legal options, don’t wait to call Carey, Danis & Lowe for help. For a free consultation, send us an email or call 1-877-678-3400 today.
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