by A Texas court lawsuit reveals the fact of a tragically unfortunate car test drive that ended in a catastrophe due to not only irresponsible speed but also a seller who was riding in the passenger seat and reportedly under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. According to the lawsuit, the seller also violated basic car testing rules, a number of negligences that may have caused the fatal outcome.
The shocking accident happened in July 2024. At the time, seller Kenneth Salas was accompanying 37-year-old Benjamin Meese on a test of the 2021 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack. Meese was traveling at 124 miles per hour (200 km/h) when he crashed into a Honda Accord driven by 47-year-old Kuma Carrillo. Carrillo was ejected from her vehicle and died. Her three children immediately filed a compensation claim against Meese, Salas, and the dealership All American Chrysler Jeep Ram in Lithia.
According to the court documents, Salas was late for work on the morning of the accident, and after the fatal collision, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.13. The lawsuit states that during his sworn testimony, Salas admitted to drinking six hours before the accident. A post-accident toxicological analysis also claims he was under the influence of cocaine.
If that wasn’t enough, the seller claimed he took no measures to influence Meese to slow down or stop while driving. The lawsuit claims that because the dealership was behind on its sales plans in the first half of 2024, Salas was “desperately eager to lift the company’s monthly figures by selling to any potential buyer.” Meese was not the type of person worth attempting to sell a car to.
According to OAOA, the post-accident investigation revealed that this driver had been arrested 25 times in the past for various offenses, including car theft, trespassing, fraud crimes, fleeing the scene, and traffic violations. Public records also show that he had a history of arrests related to reckless driving, evading arrest, failing to comply with speed limits, and driving without a license or insurance.
Standard dealership procedures require sales department staff to collect driver’s license and insurance information from a customer before any car test drive. Furthermore, salespeople are usually instructed to drive the vehicle off the lot themselves and use an approved route. Salas, according to his record, did not fulfill any of these requirements. In his testimony, he claimed that the company never trained him in these basic protocols.
