The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported the death of a 44-year-old woman in a car and semi truck crash on Interstate 24 between Manchester and Monteagle. The semi hit the back of her 2000 Saturn coupe when her vehicle slowed down. The impact forced her car off the road. Her 20-year-old male passenger was injured.
The report from the highway patrol stated that the woman had seen a disabled car in the median, and that she slowed to stop and offer help. At that point, the driver of the semi, a 48-year-old man, said that he was unable to stop and therefore hit her vehicle.
The truck driver was not hurt. The highway patrol troopers did not attribute the accident to drinking or drugs. Criminal charges, however, remain a possibility once their investigation is finished.
Although it is not known if charges will be pressed against the truck driver, accidents similar to this are sometimes blamed on inattentive driving due to texting or driver fatigue. The survivor of a lost loved one sometimes has cause for filing a wrongful death claim to recover damages like funeral expenses, lost income to a household or medical bills prior to the death. If a car accident resulted from a driver’s negligence, then compensation might be obtained from the responsible party or his or her insurance company. An attorney might be able to assess an accident investigation to see if it contains evidence that indicates negligence. The adequacy of a settlement offered by an insurance company could also be reviewed by an attorney to see if it fulfills a client’s need for compensation.
Source: WKRN, “Good Samaritan killed in crash on I-24 in Coffee County,” Feb. 26, 2015