Close to a year after a fatal Missouri car accident tragically ended the life of a 40-year-old female substitute teacher, her family is pursuing wrongful death claims in court against the male teen driver who they view as responsible for the crash. The accident occurred in November of 2012 at 22nd Street and 11th Street Road in St Joseph, Missouri.
The teen driver was 16 at the time of the accident but has now turned 17. He faced juvenile charges for tampering with a motor vehicle, as well as involuntary manslaughter. Damages in excess of $25,000 are sought in the lawsuit.
The teen motorist, as in so many fatal accidents, was alleged to have been speeding at the time the crash occurred. He is accused of having failed to halt at a stop sign. Instead, police said that his Chevrolet Silverado simply kept on going, hitting the woman’s vehicle, which was headed in a southern direction on 22nd Street at the time.
His car also went on to hit another motorist’s vehicle after that, but that crash caused no other injuries. The teen driver himself, however, along with his teenage passengers were all injured and rushed to a hospital. Police asserted that the car he was driving at the time had been reported stolen.
The deceased substitute teacher had three children, two of them minors, and is also survived by her husband and parents. In such a tragedy, it is only right that the economic burden of medical and funeral expenses, as well as lost economic support be placed on a reckless driver who caused the accident, rather than on the victim’s innocent family. No amount of money, of course, can ever really compensate for the loss of a loved one.
Source: News-Pressnow.com, “Family files lawsuit in fatal car crash” Kristin Hoppa, Oct. 24, 2013