Birmingham News (AL)
Bridge design a factor in lawsuit over car crash
Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Page: 4-D
Article written by: LIZ ELLABY, News Staff Writer
The design and safety of a Lorna Road interstate overpass have
become a target of a lawsuit by a Hoover teen hit by a car and
permanently disabled last summer as he walked along a bridge
spanning Interstate 459, according to court records and
attorneys in the case.
Tyrus Williams, 15, was walking across the bridge with a friend July 26 when he was hit by a Chevrolet Impala driven by Rachel Meinke, 19, also of Hoover, according to a negligence lawsuit filed in February in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The accident happened around 5 p.m.
Williams is a paraplegic and had his left leg amputated above the knee because of the impact, Williams' attorney, Keith Belt, said. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages from Meinke and her father, Michael Meinke, who had rented the car she was driving, as well as the car rental company.
But Williams, who as a minor is suing through his mother, Fenisha Slaughter, is also seeking monetary awards from the city of Hoover and three firms hired to design, landscape, and build sidewalks along Lorna Road.
No warnings:
Belt said crosswalks along Lorna Road lead pedestrians to the bridge on both ends of the bridge. The shoulders, which are marked by pavement striping, aren't raised or protected from traffic by any kind of barrier, he said. There are no warning signs about walking across the bridge.
Those in charge of the design and installation should have foreseen the shoulder would be used as a pedestrian walkway, according to Williams' lawsuit.
Hoover City Attorney Mark Boardman has moved to dismiss the case. A hearing set for last week before Circuit Court Judge Robert Vance Jr., was continued until this Tuesday. Vance also will hear a motion from Meinke to postpone the evidence-gathering phase of the lawsuit pending the outcome of criminal charges of assault and leaving the scene of an accident. Meinke, who was indicted recently in Jefferson County, according to the motion, is citing her right not to incriminate herself.
In the city's defense, Boardman noted in court responses that the I-459 bridge is the property of the Alabama Department of Transportation. ALDOT is not named in the case. However ALDOT Division 3 Engineer Brian Davis said he has been subpoenaed to provide information and couldn't comment on a matter being litigated.
Boardman also said the city was under no obligation to provide sidewalks and the bridge wasn't part of the Lorna Road sidewalk project. "Although cities can enter into joint agreements with the state to place sidewalks across their property, in this case Hoover did not," he said.
The sidewalks, funded by federal community development block grants, were installed in phases on both sides of Lorna Road between Rocky Ridge Ranch Road and Rocky Ridge Road, and on the west side all the way to Wisteria Drive.
Hit from behind:
According to witness accounts in a police accident report, Meinke's car was in the southbound lane, "sitting in traffic" just north of Woodmeadow Drive, when she pulled off and accelerated on the right shoulder. Williams was walking with a friend, with his back to traffic, when he was hit. The friend wasn't hurt.
Meinke "did not stop, traveling through the next intersection and stopping at a private lot south of Woodmeadow Drive," according to the police report. Meinke told police she did not know what happened and refused to give a statement the next day, the report said.
Meinke offered a settlement of $25,000, the limit of the auto
insurance liability, which the plaintiff didn't accept, said
Meinke's attorney, Larry Bradford. "It's just a very unfortunate
accident," he said.
