I would say your buddy should have stopped but yes the third car was following too closely and in every court in America is responsible for rearending that person. Your buddy might have got a failure to maintain control ticket and be on his way

98 V6 Lots-o-mods SOLD
88 Daytona Shelby Z TII (The beast)
87 Daytona Shelby Z TII (Holy 20 psi of boost batman!)
Mods- 3" Downpipe, Hi-Flow cat, 3" mandrel bent exhaust with Dynomax Ultra flow. Manual boost controller, TurboXS blowoff, 5th injector, large canister wastegate, Nitrous Express go-fast-be-happy kit, ported exhaust manifold, ported intake manifold, upgraded motormounts, eibach springs, strut tower brace. Oh and 20 PSI to boot.. my oh my...