>Short answer is “yes” same way a homeowner can be responsible if they negligently leave some issues on their property and a person falls to their death. There

>Short answer is “yes” same way a homeowner can be responsible if they negligently leave some issues on their property and a person falls to their death. There's a lot of gray area in those kinds of cases. The idea that one is negligent because one could have done something differently tends to permeate internet circle jerks about legal responsibility but these sorts of things tend to be very specific to the facts in question and the burdens of proof differ greatly between civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions. In this case the driver will probably be probably be financially responsible for the outcome but being found guilty of manslaughter is a much higher bar. However, many states have various vehicular <type of crime> statutes with lower requirements or "but if driving a vehicle then X" type qualifiers on the definitions of normal crimes so that may complicate things.