Snapchat sued by accident victim who was hit by teen using the app's speed filter while driving

Snapchat is facing a lawsuit after an accident involving a teenager, who was apparently using the app while driving, left another victim severely injured. According to the lawsuit filed, Christal McGee, 18, was said to be using Snapchat's speed filter while driving and was distracted, crashing into another car at over a 100mph.

The driver of the other car that was hit, Wentworth Maynard, was also on the same road, which had a speed limit of 55mph. Maynard, a driver for Uber, sustained severe injuries and was admitted to hospital for over two months for traumatic brain injury, which according to his lawyers would "alter the rest of his life". He now requires round-the-clock care, his lawyers claim.

Maynard's lawyers have said they managed to get their hands on a Snapchat posted by McGee, which shows her using the app to document the entire incident. She apparently even posted a snap captioned "lucky to be alive" as she was being transported to the hospital in an ambulance.

The accident occurred in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia in 2015. Maynard's lawyers are now filing charges against Sanpchat and McGee for negligence. McGee was driving her father's Mercedes with her co-workers from a local restaurant that she worked at. She reportedly opened Snapchat's speed filter and began driving faster. She allegedly wanted to hit 100mph so she could post it on Snapchat.

The lawsuit alleges that Snapchat was aware that active users of the app were using the speed filter while driving, providing an example of an earlier case of a Snapchat user who posted a picture of driving at 142mph. The lawsuit also blames Snapchat for choosing not to take down the filter from their app, despite the dangers it can pose to people. Snapchat's speed filter uses GPS to determine speed.

A spokesperson for Snapchat told the Independent: "No Snap is more important than someone's safety. We actively discourage our community from using the speed filter while driving, including by displaying a 'Do NOT Snap and Drive' warning message in the app itself."