Bexar County jury awards $82 million to family of UTSA graduate killed in drunk-driving crash | San Antonio

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Wikimedia Commons / Brian Turner

The family of Taylor McCowan, a nursing student from San Antonio, filed a wrongful death lawsuit after she was hit by a man convicted of drunken driving.

A Bexar County jury last week awarded $81.72 million to the parents of Taylor McCowan, a San Antonio nursing student killed in a 2020 car crash by a deputy U.S. marshal who was convicted of drunken driving.

According to Markland LLP, the law firm representing McCowan’s family, the mental anguish verdict handed down April 29 is the highest in U.S. history.

“While this verdict does not help bring her back, we are now able to properly honor Taylor’s contributions as a global citizen and continue her mission,” mother Raquel Hatch said in a statement.

McCowan, a 23-year-old UTSA graduate, was driving home from Bible study in January 2020 when she was struck head-on by Jonathan Paul Jones, then a deputy U.S. marshal, according to a previous report from KSAT-TV. According to a statement from Markland, Jones was driving the wrong way on Loop 1604 and had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit.

Jones did not provide any assistance to McCowan after the collision, the Markland statement said. Instead, McCowan was trapped in her car for 40 minutes until she was finally freed and flown via Life Flight to University Hospital.

According to KSAT, McCowan died from her injuries two weeks later.

Jones was sentenced to eleven and a half years in prison for manslaughter in April 2023, the TV station reports. After serving half of his sentence, he will be eligible for parole.

“The jury has accepted its responsibility to not only compensate this growing family, but also to send a message to Texas drivers who choose to drive home drunk rather than hail a taxi or Uber,” said Clive Markland of Markland LLP in a statement. “Mr. Jones, then a commissioned federal peace officer, had a duty to protect citizens like Taylor McCowen, but chose to put the lives of San Antonio drivers at risk.”

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