Completing an NC Answer (Case Number 24 CV 947) based on the case summary provided 1. Chris Rocket is a freshman at Bartmoor College, a local college in Lydon, North Carolina. In June 2020, near the end of her senior year at Franklin High, Chris attended the Senior Night Party, an event that has been held one week before the senior prom every year since the late seventies. The Senior Night Party was held in the upstairs loft of Ben's Restaurant and Grille on June 8th from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Franklin High's rules prohibit the dispensing and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages at school-sanctioned events, including the Senior Night Party, because the drinking age in North Carolina is 21. Anyone who violates this policy is suspended for two weeks. A second offense within the same academic year could result in expulsion.

2. Chris owned a yellow 2008 Pontiac Sunbird, a car Chris bought after she received her driver's license in June 2019 with the money she earned from her part-time job bagging groceries. She passed the driving test on her first try and has never gotten a ticket for a moving violation.

3. On the evening of June 8th, Chris gave her best friend, Dana Dowright, a ride to the Senior Night Party. They arrived shortly after the party started. Chris and Dana were together most of the time at the party, dancing and socializing with other friends and acquaintances. Although alcoholic beverages are forbidden, it was well known among the students that some students would sneak in hard liquor to "spike" the punch. There were two large bowls of punch on the table along with bowls of chips and dips, and it was rumored that one of the punch bowls was spiked. At approximately 10:00 p.m., Dana told Chris that she was tired and wanted to go home. Chris and Dana had been up very late the night before studying for a big math unit test that was given on the morning of Friday, June 8th. Chris wasn't ready to leave yet, having gotten a "second wind," but Dana insisted, and so Chris and Dana left the party. Chris claims to have consumed only three glasses of punch between the time she arrived at the party and the time she left to drive Dana home.

4. Chris dropped Dana off at her house and then decided to return to the party. Even though it had been an exceptionally warm day, the evening turned cooler so a light fog was beginning to form in low-lying areas. Visibility was fair. Upon her return to the party at approximately 10:20 p.m., Chris had several more glasses of the punch. The party began to break up promptly at 11:00 p.m. and everyone left the upstairs loft by 11:15 p.m. About fifteen students decided in Ben's parking lot to continue the party in LaSalle Park off Stahl Road, approximately three miles from Ben's Restaurant and Grille. One student commented, "We have 3 six-packs and two bottles of top-shelf. This should be an awesome party in the park!" By now, Chris' second wind was starting to fade, but she decided to join them anyway. She gave Pat Smith, who Chris knew from an art class they took together in junior year, a ride to the park. Although Pat appeared to Chris to be more than a little tipsy, he nevertheless was coherent. They arrived at the park at approximately 11:20 p.m.

5. The students were in the park for approximately forty to forty-five minutes. They all left in a hurry when they saw the park rangers approaching. LaSalle Park closes at 10:30 p.m. and drinking is prohibited at all times unless a special permit is obtained from the Parks Department. When the park rangers arrived at the location where the students had gathered, they found two unopened six-packs and one unopened bottle of vodka. No one can recall observing Chris consume any alcoholic beverages while at the park.

6. In the mad dash to avoid being caught by the park rangers, Chris left the park without seeing whether Pat or anyone else needed a ride home. By this time, the fog had become heavier. Chris lived about twelve miles from the park. She had to take two major roads to get home from the park: Stahl Road for four miles, then a right onto Colvin Street Extension, which leads into her housing development. The posted speed limit on Stahl Road, like most city roadways, is 35 miles per hour. On Colvin Street Extension, the speed limit is 45 mph. Chris couldn't help but think how lucky she was that she had not been caught by the park rangers with beer and liquor around. If she had been caught, there was a good chance that she might have been expelled. Last October at Franklin High's Fallfest, Chris was caught drinking by a teacher. The teacher reported the incident to the principal and Chris was suspended for two weeks. She pledged at that time that she would never take another drink again until she turned 21. Besides, Chris was a key player on the soccer team and the coach constantly stressed to the team the importance of avoiding alcohol and illegal drugs. "Clean Living" became Chris' motto.

7. At approximately 11:55 p.m., Fran and Kerry Knowall, a married couple, had stopped on the side of Colvin Street Extension to fix a flat tire. They had just left the home of Fran's sister and her family. Fran's sister's daughter, their niece Stella, had just arrived home after two years of service to the Peace Corps in Botswana. Fran and Kerry were proud of Stella's service. In fact, Fran and Kerry met each other when they were Peace Corps volunteers in Ghana in 2001. They normally were not out at that late hour because of Fran's poor health, but the time just got away from them during their visit as they reminisced about the Peace Corps. As they were getting ready to jack up their car at approximately 12:10 a.m., they observed a car going by. Fran exclaimed, "That car had better slow-down in this fog or else it's going to kill someone!" Fran was able to get the first letter of the license plate, "T". As a former engineer for Ford, Fran knew cars and believed that the car was a Pontiac Sunbird. Several minutes later a second car traveling in the same direction as the first car also went by. Fran was not able to identify the second car or get any part of the license plate.

8. Approximately one mile from where the Knowalls were parked, Chris, whose heart was still pounding from her escape from the park, was thinking that suspension from school just before graduation would be devastating. she was going to Bartmoor College on a partial math scholarship and a partial soccer athletic scholarship. She then remembered that she had not called her parents to let them know she would be out past midnight. Since she first began driving, her parents insisted that she be home on Friday and Saturday nights by midnight. If she was going to be delayed, she must call home. She was fearful she might get grounded the next weekend. She was thinking she had better get home fast. Chris was feeling very stressed out. Of course, she did not want her parents to see her in her current state in case they were still up. Thinking that music might calm her down, she decided to play her new smooth jazz CD. There were several CD cases stuck between the console and the front passenger seat. Without taking her eyes off the road, she reached over to retrieve one of the cases. Looking at it briefly, she realized it was not the one she wanted. She placed the unwanted CD cases on the passenger seat and grabbed another one. In an instant, what appeared to be a deer darted toward the front of her car from the left (driver) side. The deer stopped before crossing the double yellow center lines. Startled by the deer, Chris swerved to the right to avoid the animal and was looking to her left, fearing another deer could be following. The car was slightly on the shoulder when she felt a thump. Chris alleges that she thought she struck another deer running off into the woods, so she decided not to stop. Chris claims she did not see a jogger running along the right side of the road. She arrived home at approximately 12:20 a.m.

9. The Knowalls managed to get their spare tire onto their vehicle at approximately 12:30 a.m. and proceeded home. Up the road slightly, they noticed the flashing lights of several police vehicles and an emergency ambulance. They pulled behind one of the police vehicles and got out of their car to see what was going on. A police officer told them that a person had been struck by a car and was injured. Fran nudged Kerry and reminded her of the car they had observed going by. The Knowalls told the police officer that they had seen a vehicle speed past them about thirty minutes earlier. The vehicle had passed at what appeared to Fran to be a high rate of speed. The police officer asked for a description of the car and Fran told the police officer that he thought it was a yellow Pontiac Sunbird with a license plate beginning with the letter "T". From this information, the police officer was able to learn that a vehicle fitting that description was registered to a Chris Rocket, residing at 259 Spencer Avenue in Lydon.

10. After obtaining a search warrant from a District Court judge at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, the police arrived at Chris' house at approximately 9:30 a.m. to execute the warrant. Chris was still sleeping. Chris' car was parked in the garage, although normally, it is just parked in the driveway. The search warrant permitted officers to examine the exterior of the vehicle. The police officers observed a dent on the front right-side bumper. Chris said she had not seen the dent before, but told the police that she was pretty sure she had hit a deer on Colvin Street Extension while she was driving home.

11. The victim, Ryan Strongarm, is an accomplished athlete, having won many marathons. He was a member of the US Track and Field Team and was preparing to compete in the 2021 Olympics in Belgium. Ryan was sure he would take the gold and that his earning potential would approach that of Lance Armstrong. Now, due to the significant injuries he has suffered as a result of the accident, including a broken leg, he will never be able to compete again.

12. Recounting the events of that night, Ryan said he was out running because he could not sleep. Running helped to relax him. Ryan grew up in New York City and after finishing college at UCLA, moved to Lydon in Longchester County because there was more space to train. He was closer to freshwater lakes which allowed him to train for triathlon events. He did not often run this late in Lydon. Unlike in New York City, there are not any street lights, so the roads can be dark. On the few occasions when s/he has run late at night, Ryan has always felt safe and exercised extreme caution. Ryan was quite accustomed to running at night in Central Park when there was less traffic. He was wearing black leggings and a navy-blue nylon turtleneck, because it had become a little chilly that evening. Ryan never wore a reflector vest because it was uncomfortable. Ryan's running shoes did have reflectors.

13. Ryan stated that he always ran against the traffic so he could be seen, which is one of the accepted rules of the road for runners. On the night in question, Ryan maintained that he was running on the shoulder of Colvin Street Extension at least two feet from the solid white line on the right side of most roadways, commonly referred to as the "fog line." He was quite familiar with this route, having run this route many times. The entire shoulder is approximately three feet wide and is asphalt covered. At the point of the accident, however, there is a fifteen-foot rectangular section of the shoulder that is filled with small construction rocks. This fifteen-foot rectangular section is approximately one foot from the fog line. To avoid the possibility of turning an ankle, Ryan moved toward the fog line causing his right foot to come into contact with the fog line. Ryan said that he made every effort to get out of Chris' way, but that Chris was weaving and driving too fast for the conditions. He claimed that Chris must have seen him. Ryan further stated that he did not see any deer that night.

14. At the time the Knowalls spoke with the police about the car they believed was involved in the incident, they did not know that the vehicle belonged to the child of their neighbors. John and Glenda Rocket were ex-business associates of the Knowalls. The Knowalls and the Rockets were involved in an import-export business that folded after 18 months. Kerry and Fran lost half of their retirement savings due to what they believed were improper accounting and recordkeeping on the part of the Rockets. Kerry and Fran pledged that if it was the last thing they did, they would make sure that the Rockets would pay for ruining them financially. Fran even said, "I'll make sure the Rockets pay dearly for this!" The Rockets and the Knowalls have not talked in five years.

15. Although the forensic team had not yet examined the vehicle, the police officer who executed the search warrant was convinced that Chris' vehicle had indeed struck the runner. Chris was placed under arrest and was charged with vehicular assault in the second degree (section 120.03 of the Penal Law), a class E felony and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting (section 600[2] of the Vehicle and Traffic Law), also a class E felony. However, because Longchester County District Attorney Hyphong did not believe he could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Chris was criminally negligent under the circumstances or that she knew or should have known that a person had been injured, all charges were dropped. Ryan Strongarm wanted "justice," and so he commenced a civil lawsuit against Chris Rocket.