Trooper’s Widow Sues Trucking Company

The widow of an Illinois State Police trooper who was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer  during a traffic stop in November has filed a lawsuit against the company and the driver. Kyle Deatherage, 32, was standing along an interstate when he was hit. He died instantly.

The wrongful death and misconduct lawsuit claims the driver should never have been behind the wheel when the accident occurred. Driver Johnny B. Felton, DOT Foods and subsidiary DOT Transportation are named in the suit, which claims that Felton was “medically unfit” to be driving and that the company had permitted him to drive despite being an “imminent danger to the public.”

After the accident in November, the U.S. Department of Transportation said that Felton had lost consciousness before the crash and issued an order barring him from commercial driving. The agency said he had an unspecified medical condition that should have disqualified him from having a commercial driver’s license. DOT Foods has said they removed Felton from the road following the accident.

The Houston truck accident attorneys at Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., Accident & Injury Lawyers help people who have been injured in tractor-trailer accidents.