Snapchat speed filter blamed in 107MPH selfie car crash lawsuit
Photo messaging app Snapchat has been implicated in a lawsuit which saw a selfie snapping driver cause grievous harm to other drivers in Atlanta.
Snapchat has a speed filter, detecting just how fast a person is travelling. One Christal McGee was utilising the feature on a highway, hitting over 100MPH in her Mitsubishi, according to Tech Crunch.
The incident saw her crash through the barrier, across oncoming traffic and down an embankment, in 2015.
Injured in the crash was Maynard Wentworth, left with brain trauma. He, with his wife, is now suing McGee for medical costs and damages. McGee's lawyers claimed “she was just trying to get the car to 100 miles per hour to post it on Snapchat”.
"While distracted and on her phone, McGee did not notice that a gray Mitsubishi, driven by Maynard Wentworth, had pulled out onto the road,” according to the complaint.
Despite narrowly surviving the incident in which she was travelling twice the legal limit while trying to take a selfie, McGee captured another image in the ambulance (pictured above).
The incident has brought into question the necessity (and danger) of the Snapchat speed filter.
Maynard’s attorney, T. Shane Peagler said: “We’ll see to it that Christal McGee is held responsible, but we also want to see Snapchat held responsible.
“This is a product liability case because Snapchat put something very dangerous in the marketplace without any warnings or safeguards, and basically said, whatever happens, happens.”