Haywood Highsmith car crash: Heat forward slapped with lawsuit by injured 21-year-old who went under leg amputation

Haywood Highsmith has been on the news since the first week of the month. Heat fans would’ve been ecstatic if the news were about their forward being in remarkable form but that has not been the case so far.

Highsmith was involved in a car crash earlier this month and he escaped the ordeal unscathed, the same cannot be said about the other involved parties. While he is not in a situation as former Clippers star Lamar Odom was when he crashed his car, the 27-year-old finds himself in front of the barrel and it is going to cost him a hefty chunk of his base salary.

Haywood Highsmith gets sued by car crash victim

Haywood Highsmith has been sued by a local man and accused of exceeding speed limits. The man who was gravely injured has filed the lawsuit, demanding more than $100,000 for the damages Highsmith has caused to him.

On Feb. 6 while returning home after the win against the Magic by 121-95 Highsmith struck a man. The man, Alekxei Pino was assisting another driver with the latter’s damaged vehicle when he got hit by the 27-year-old. Pino got seriously injured and later on, went under a partial left leg amputation.

Pino filed a suit against the forward according to the Miami Herald. The attorney’s filing read: “Due to [Highsmith’s] negligence, [Pino] suffered permanent bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life…”. The 21-year-old is still in bad shape and his family has created a fundraiser for his treatment which has collected more than $28,000 till now.

Highsmith was accused of driving at a high speed of 45mph whereas the speed limit was 40mph in that zone while under no influence of drugs or alcohol. The Heat forward was not included in the roster for the next game showing a personal reason in the official records but appeared in three other games after the accident.

Haywood receives university honor

While his four wheels got him into trouble, the other place where he used to roll gave him an honor. Haywood went to Wheeling University where he played for four seasons (2014-2018) in the Wheeling Jesuit Cardinals team.

He was invited by the University for the occasion where they arranged the event to show their gratitude for the Heat forward’s contribution to the Cardinals. Highsmith scored the third-highest points in Cardinals history and major titles like MEC Player of the Year and the MVP in the Conference were some of them.

Many fans, his family, old teammates and coach showed up for the occasion where his jersey no. 24 was officially retired.