The Mets’ first baseman is having another good year. But, he almost didn’t make it to spring training in one piece, after a horrific car crash in Florida.
After another driver sideswiped it, Alonso’s Ford F-150 flipped over multiple times. “A big accident like that, when it happens to you, I don't care who you are, it's not easy. No matter how strong you might think you are, it can still be rough in a lot of different ways. I’m still dealing with some pretty bad PTSD from it, to be completely honest with you,” he said. “And I feel very fortunate that I was able to recognize that. That I’ve been able to talk through it with some people. I mean, over the past several months I've really been leaning on some people that I trust and hold close. I’m continuously working through everything,” he added.
Alonso said his symptoms included some what-ifs. “My wife was driving right behind me. If that other driver had arrived at that intersection two seconds later, he would’ve hit her instead,” he reflected.
Emotional Injuries
The emotional injuries Alonso describe sound like post traumatic stress, a very common condition that almost all victims experience. For several weeks, months, or even years after a wreck, many victims avoid a certain part of town or are more cautious when they pull through intersections.
If these symptoms interfere with daily activities, or if the symptoms get worse instead of better, as is the case with over half of all car crash victims, the issue is most likely Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This misunderstood brain injury has been around for centuries. William Shakespeare highlighted this condition in Henry IV, Part I. In this scene, Lady Percy airs concerns about her husband, Hotspur, who has just returned from war:
O my good lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offense have I this fortnight been
A banished woman from my Harry’s bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is ‘t that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit’st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watched,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed,
Cry “Courage! To the field!”
The symptoms she described, such as isolation, unjustified anger at family members, loss of interest, sleeplessness, and depression, probably sound eerily familiar to PTSD victims, their friends, and their loved ones.
Shakespeare probably didn’t know it, but his reference to a “bounding steed” has a medical tie-in that many people, including many doctors, still don’t fully realize.
Extreme stress, like being in combat or a car crash, enlarges the amygdala (part of the brain which controls emotional responses) and shrinks the cerebral cortex (part of the brain which regulates logical thought).
What on earth does that medical condition have to do with a bounding steed? We’re glad you asked. The cerebral cortex/amygdala balance is like a rider on a wild stallion. As long as the cowboy firmly controls the wild stallion, everything is okay. But if the cowboy loosens his grip on the reins, even slightly, the horse goes wild.
Physical Injuries
When the Mets first took the field in 1962, they wore orange and blue. Those are the colors of the two teams, the New York (San Francisco) Giants and Brooklyn (Los Angeles) Dodgers, that had left the Big Apple a few years earlier. That was about the same time longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote Unsafe at Any Speed, an expose of the Chevrolet Corvair.
Many of Nader’s specific conclusions are shaky. But his overall point about the lack of safety in motor vehicles was spot-on. In the 1960s, most cars were death traps. They had all-metal dashboards and they didn’t have seatbelts. Advanced restraint systems, like collision bars and airbags, might have been inside UFOs. But they weren’t in the cars and trucks at your local dealership.
Despite all these safety improvements which have occurred over the decades, today’s vehicle collisions still kill or seriously injure millions of Americans every year. Some of these serious physical injuries include:
As mentioned, many doctors don’t have much experience in dealing with injury-related matters. So, a New York personal injury attorney connects victims with physicians who focus on this area.
Liability Issues
Medical bills related to physical and emotional injuries are usually the largest component of economic damages in a car crash case. Compensation for these losses is available if a victim/plaintiff proves that someone else’s negligence caused the injury. A successful negligence case has two pillars.
Building a Claim
Sideswipe wrecks, like Alonso’s car wrecks, could involve the ordinary negligence doctrine or the negligence per se rule.
Ordinary negligence is a lack of ordinary care. This legal duty requires motorists to drive defensively and watch for, as my grandfather used to say, th’ other fella. Motorists who broadside other vehicles clearly violate this duty of care. If a lack of cre causes injury, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) is responsible for damages.
These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as the aforementioned medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. A New York personal injury lawyer can obtain additional punitive damages as well, in some extreme cases.
Negligence per se is a violation of a safety law. Tortfeasor who violate such a law, like a failure to maintain a proper lookout or yield the right-of-way, could be responsible for damages as a matter of law.
Different states, and different counties in the same state, have different traffic laws. Additionally, the negligence per se rule works differently in different states. In Florida, negligence per se is usually only a presumption of liability.
Refuting Defenses
Common defenses in vehicle collision claims include comparative fault and the emergency doctrine.
Comparative fault shifts part of the blame to the other driver. For example, in a broadside wreck, the tortfeasor might claim that the other driver was speeding, so a wreck was unavoidable. The emergency doctrine shifts all of the blame to the other driver. This doctrine excuses negligent driving if the tortfeasor reasonably reacted to a sudden emergency, such as a car pulling out unexpectedly.
Attorneys use the evidence in the case to refute these defenses. So, they usually don’t hold up in court, as long as the lawyer has collected enough evidence.
Injury victims are usually entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in New York, contact the Pianko Law Group, PLLC. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.