Proposed Missouri law would make drunken drivers pay child support if parent is killed in accident

Asha C. Gilbert, USA TODAY
·2 min read
Proposed Missouri law would make drunken drivers pay child support if parent is killed in accident

A woman tasked with raising her son's two children after he, his fiancé and their infant were killed by a drunken driver, is fighting to propose a new law that will put drunken drivers on the hook for child support.

"Bentley's Law" would make drunken drivers who cause the death of a parent responsible for paying child support to a surviving spouse or relative raising the children until they are 18, KMOV 4 reported.

Cecilia Williams began working on the proposed law after an accident on a Missouri highway in April killed her son, Cordell Williams, his fiancé, Lacey Newton, and the couple's infant son, Cordell Williams II.

According to the outlet, all three died after being rear-ended by a vehicle driven by David Thurby whose blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Thurby faces three counts of DWI resulting in the death of another.

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The couple's two other children, 3-year-old Mason and 5-year-old Bentley who the proposed law is named after, are being raised by Cecilia Williams.

“A lot of people find themselves in the position where the person who killed or injured their family, they don’t have insurance, they don’t have assets, they have nothing,” Cecilia Williams told the Daily Journal. “And yet, they somehow have enough to buy other things. … In Bentley’s Law, it would be a part of victim services and will prevent people from having to go through an attorney to get restitution.”

Williams has gotten support from state Rep. Mike Henderson, and legislators in Tennessee have also gained interest in the proposed law. She told the Daily Journal she hopes to make the law national.

Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drunken drivers would pay child support under proposed Missouri law