The busy streets of Chicago, Illinois, have an extraordinary number of vehicles on them each day. Because of that, there are periodically accidents, some of which result in serious injuries and wrongful deaths. In those cases, survivors or families of survivors often sue those who are responsible.
In one recent case, the family of a tollway worker who was killed after being hit by a semi on I-294 is suing a towing company that they allege was in some measure responsible for the accident. The tollway worker’s family alleges that the towing company did not fully clear debris that was left on the road from an earlier crash, and that their failure to do so led to this accident.
The tollway worker, 48, had been in the right shoulder of the southbound lane of I-294 picking up debris from the earlier crash. While doing so, he and his vehicle were both hit from the side by the semitruck driver, who was pulling a trailer and drove off after hitting the tollway worker.
The worker died of the multiple injuries that he suffered 20 minutes after he was hit. An autopsy was done, with the medical examiner’s office confirming the cause of death. The worker had been an equipment operator laborer for the tollway for 25 years, having started that career in March 1992. He was the father of two children and had been married at the time of the fatal accident.
His wife filed a wrongful death suit in Cook County Circuit Court. It accuses the towing company of contributing to her husband’s death by having failed to completely clear the debris from the earlier crash. The towing company had been tasked with removing the car and all of the debris from that earlier crash, but according to this suit, failed to do fully. The suit labels that failure as negligent and careless and seeks unspecified damages.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, “Family of tollway worker killed by semi on I-294 sues towing company,” Matthew Hendrickson, Sep. 26, 2017