The teenage girl responsible for the car accident that permanently injured a man and led to a lawsuit against the social media site Snapchat is being charged with a felony.
Nineteen-year-old Christal McGee was charged with causing serious injury by vehicle, a felony in the Georgia county in which she lives. She is also being charged with three misdemeanors, including reckless driving, going more than 35 miles above the speed limit, and driving too fast for weather conditions.
McGee was allegedly driving more than 100 miles per hour when she slammed into Wentworth Maynard, who now has severe brain injuries and can no longer work. She currently has four warrants out for her arrest, and the police are waiting for McGee to turn herself in.
The accident happened last fall but made national news this spring when Maynard filed a lawsuit against Snapchat, blaming them for encouraging drivers like McGee to use their speed filter, which clocks how fast filter users are moving and makes for an exciting video to share with friends. McGee denies using Snapchat at the time of the accident, and Snapchat pulled records to back up her claims. She did, however, post a pic of herself on a stretcher minutes after the accident, which is what brought Snapchat into the whole mess in the first place.
While the charges have nothing to do with the lawsuit, Snapchat’s attorneys were able to put the lawsuit on hold after they were able to show their speed filter was not a part of the crash. Both sides agreed to continue the investigation before moving further. Snapchat has also said that they warn users to avoid the speed filter while driving and that McGee’s actions–if she was on social media–were solely due to her own negligence.
