Car fatality tied to teen’s eating as he was driving
Autopsy shows food lodged in esophagus
Published: June 18, 2009, 12:30 am
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A bizarre death involving a Buffalo motorist who choked on a hot dog earlier this week has raised warnings to avoid driving while distracted.
Marlin Walker, 18, of East Delavan Avenue, had purchased a hot dog just before leaving the Juneteenth Festival late Sunday afternoon and was eating it as he drove on East Ferry Street, authorities said.
Then, something went terribly wrong.
Witnesses told police his car began to swerve in the vicinity of the Fillmore Avenue intersection, struck a curb and stopped.
“He died shortly thereafter. An autopsy revealed the cause of death as food lodged in his esophagus,” Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. De- George said Wednesday.
There are laws prohibiting drinking alcohol and driving and using cell phones that do not have hands-free devices, but eating and drinking legal beverages, such as coffee, while driving is not illegal.
That does not mean it’s safe. “We don’t believe any states cover eating while driving, but the reality is, if you cause a crash while doing something distracting, whether it is eating or putting on mascara, you will be charged with something,” said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va.
Eating and driving, Rader said, qualifies as an act of negligence, if an accident occurs.
“You don’t necessarily have to have a ban on eating to be charged with failure to pay attention to what is going on,” he said.
Statistics on food-related accidents, he said, are not maintained by the institute or any other groups with which he is familiar.
Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington, D. C., said he has never heard of a motor vehicle accident involving a driver choking on a hot dog. “But it is certainly a wake-up call for people to try and drive more safely and manage these distractions,” Adkins said. “Nobody is trying to ban eating while driving; you just have to restore some common sense.”
While there appear to be no accident statistics on food-related distractions, insurance industry representatives say driver inattention often causes accidents.
When Walker crashed at about 4:45 p. m. Sunday, Buffalo homicide detectives were called to the scene to determine whether foul play was involved. Autopsy results ruled out that possibility.
The unusual case, however, resulted in a word of caution from Buffalo Chief of Detectives Dennis J. Richards.
“The tragic accident highlights the importance of drivers needing to be focused on the task,” Richards said. “Multitasking, drinking coffee, cell phone calls and text messaging are all distractions and should be avoided.”
lmichel@buffnews.com
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