On September 27, 2002, 18-year-old Michael Mairs was driving along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey with two 18-year-old passengers in the car. Mairs was drunk, and he crashed his car into the back of a motorcycle driven by 40-year-old Antonios Podias, who was thrown from the bike. The car left the southbound lanes, crashed through a guardrail and stopped on grass by the express lanes.
Leaving Podias on the roadway, the two passengers in Mairs' car fled into the woods, and Mairs called and then waited for his girlfriend to come get him. After the accident, with Podias lying in the roadway injured, a car ran over Podias and killed him. The impact crushed his chest, punctured his heart, and he bled to death. Podias managed a restaurant and had two young sons, now teenagers. The driver and his two passengers made 44 cell phone calls within a 2.5 hour period following the crash, but none of those calls was to 911 or a police or emergency medical service department.
Years later, an appellate court in New Jersey ruled that the teenagers had an obligation to help the injured man. Instead of helping the motorcyclist, the three men argued about what to do after the accident and decided to run leaving the injured man on the Garden State Parkway to die. Mairs and his passengers, Andrew K. Swanson, Jr. and Kyle Charles Newell, were returning to Monmouth University from a party when the crash occurred. Swanson got out of the car, saw the motorcyclist and told the others he thought he was dead; they drove away and when they crashed shortly after, the two passengers ran into the woods.
Jeffrey Peck, a lawyer for the widow, Sevasti Podias, said, "They could have easily called 911, or stayed with the body to prevent someone from running over it. Newell and Swanson called everyone but the police."
Mairs was tracked down by state troopers several hours after the crash and was still drunk. He claimed initially that he had been alone in the car and was not even aware that he hit anyone. Months later, Mairs finally admitted he had passengers in the car and that they lied about what happened that night.
Podias' widow sued both drivers, the two passengers, the party host, and some of the teens' parents. Mairs settled for just over a million dollars. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, underage drinking and driving after consuming alcohol; Mairs served 13 months in jail. Swanson and Newell were later dismissed in the lawsuit by state Superior Court Judge Edward Oles, who ruled that "there is absolutely no testimony that either Newell or Swanson encouraged Mairs not to call the police and to leave the scene of the accident or to substantially assist Mr. Mairs in that endeavor."
Podias' widow appealed that ruling with her attorney arguing that there was clear evidence that the three men argued about what to do immediately after hitting Podias.
All other defendants in the lawsuit have resolved their cases.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a motorcycle accident in New Haven or anywhere in Connecticut, please contact the experienced Motorcycle Accident Lawyers at Trantolo & Trantolo LLC today to schedule your initial consultation.
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