When a car accident happens, there is a normal series of events that follow. First comes shock, along with the realization something bad has happened and accounting for lives and limbs. Blame is often the next emotion, with drivers and passengers searching for why something happened and who caused it.

Most of the time, at-fault accidents are caused by the driver of a car. With the realities of self-driving cars and rideshares becoming a bigger part of life on the roads of Wisconsin, though, this is not always the case. A man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly caused a crash from the seat behind the driver.

A 25-year-old was apparently intoxicated when the car he was in, hired through the rideshare app Uber, was passing a mall in Madison along with two other passengers. The man became excited at the prospect of stopping at the mall and reached forward to jerk the steering wheel out of the driver’s hands. This caused the car to hurtle through landscaping into a parking lot outside a restaurant.

The driver and two other passengers suffered minor injuries, and the man was charged with three tentative counts of recklessly endangering safety in connection to the incident. He may also be subject to civil charges from the driver and the owner of the damaged property.

People injured in motor vehicle accidents have the right to claim appropriate damages in an attempt to recover as quickly and wholly as possible. An attorney can help victims and their families analyze their options and move on from a horrible tragedy.