University of Texas sophomore Srivaishnavi Vijay is taking Raising Cane's and several individuals to court after a Halloween weekend crash outside the chain's Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard location left her with life-altering injuries.
Vijay, an informatics major, has filed a civil lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages after she was struck and run over by a pickup while standing outside the restaurant. Her attorney says she suffered a traumatic brain injury along with multiple orthopedic injuries, will need several surgeries, and has been unable to continue her studies at UT while she recovers.
What the lawsuit alleges
According to The Daily Texan, attorney Sean Breen filed the petition in Travis County, naming the driver, two passengers, and Raising Cane's as defendants. The suit claims Cane's employees directed customers to wait on the sidewalk when the dining room was full, placing them near vehicle traffic.
The lawsuit further argues that the lack of protective bollards or poles left people on the sidewalk exposed to cars using the drive-thru. It contends that the combination of the queuing practice and the absence of barriers created conditions that made serious injury foreseeable. Vijay is seeking more than $1 million for past and future medical expenses, anticipated surgeries, and other damages.
The crash and its victims
The collision happened just before 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 31 outside the Raising Cane's at 415 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where a Ford F-150 slammed into a group of students waiting near the drive-thru lane. According to MySA, four people were taken to area hospitals with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The late-night crowd, the holiday weekend, and the busy drive-thru combined into a chaotic scene that has now become the focus of both criminal prosecutors and civil attorneys.
Criminal case against the driver
Police identified the driver as 21-year-old Antonia G. Garcia-Rios, who was arrested at the scene and faces intoxication-assault counts, local reporting states. An arrest affidavit describes surveillance footage of the truck suddenly jerking onto the sidewalk and striking pedestrians, a detail reported by FOX 7 Austin.
Court records from the Travis County court system show the intoxication-assault case is set for trial on Feb. 18, 2026. That criminal case will play out separately from Vijay's civil action, even as both stem from the same Halloween weekend crash.
Legal implications
Under Texas law, intoxication assault is a felony-level offense that can bring prison time and fines if prosecutors secure a conviction. The criminal case will be handled in Travis County criminal court.
On the civil side, Vijay's complaint claims negligence by multiple parties: the driver, the passengers who allegedly allowed an intoxicated person to drive, and the Raising Cane's defendants for what the suit calls an unsafe sidewalk queuing setup without protective barriers, according to The Daily Texan. If a jury ultimately agrees that the restaurant was negligent, the chain could face significant damages and pressure to rethink safety measures at similar storefronts.
What’s next
While the criminal case moves toward its February setting, the civil lawsuit will work through discovery, depositions, and pretrial motions in the coming months. Hoodline first reported on the incident in November; see our first report from the crash scene for details from the night of the collision and the initial police account.
For now, Vijay and her legal team are pursuing criminal accountability and civil relief on parallel tracks, positioning the case as both a bid for compensation and a push for safer conditions outside busy late-night restaurant locations.
