Missouri Injury Attorneys Blog

A crash involving a MoDOT dump truck has left one teen dead and the other seriously injured.

June 3, 2010, two Moberly teens were traveling northbound on state Highway K, when they were broadsided by a Missouri Department of Transportation dump truck. The driver of the dump truck, James B. Griffith, of Moberly, Missouri, failed to yield to the teen's truck.

The 1997 Chevrolet S-10 Truck, driven by Christian Alvizo, 18, was pushed through the intersection into a grass median. Also in the vehicle was Matthew Rudder, 17, of Huntsville, Missouri. Alvizo was transported by ambulance to University Hospital in Columbia. Rudder was transported by Staff for Life to University Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 1:50p.m. upon his arrival at the hospital.

The A.W. Smith Law Firm will be representing Rudder's parents in their class one beneficiary wrongful death suit against both Griffith and MoDOT.

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An off-duty police officer, Christine Miller, killed four people and injured one while driving drunk, resulting in a lawsuit against her and the bar that served her that night.

A deadly crash occurred when Officer Christine Miller left O'Leary's Restaurant and Bar after she had drank a "high quantity" of alcohol and drove her car into oncoming traffic. All four passengers of the vehicle were killed and the driver was seriously hurt sustaining a head injury, fractured ribs, liver trauma, lung contusion and contusions to the skull.

A wrongful death suit was filed by the families of the victims and the one sole survivor of the crash against Christine Miller (the driver) and O'Leary's Restaurant and Bar (the bar who served her the night of the crash). The suit accused Miller, 42, of negligence based on the allocation of drunk driving and driving on the wrong side of the road. The parents also sued the restaurant because its employees "knew Miller was intoxicated". The suit claims that bar workers continued serving Miller despite her slurred speech and unsteady gate and then did not stop her from driving or call her a cab.

Miller and O'Leary's Restaurant and Bar decided to settle the suit for $2.255 million dollars to compensate the families of loss and the surviving victim. Christine Miller agreed to pay a $255,000 settlement, with $45,000 going to each family. O'Leary's Restaurant and Bar will pay a $2 million dollar settlement, from which each parent will collect an immediate payment of $100,000 and a structured settlement for each child of $186,375.

Christine Miller is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree assault for injuries suffered by the surviving victim.

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Three Overland residents file wrongful death suit after Overland police officers allegedly pushed their brother down a flight of stairs to his death in April of 2010.

On the night of March 20, police were called about a road rage incident in which a motorist driving a jeep had been using flashing lights and a siren. Knowing that Kenneth Hamilton owned a vehicle like this, police made a visit to his residence in the 2600 block of West Milton Avenue.

The suit says: "While investigating the prior traffic incident and interrogating Kenneth Hamilton, defendant Ringeisen excessively, and without provocation or cause, struck, punched, and/or pushed decedent down a flight of stairs within the residence causing serious and substantial injuries including a massive head injury, which required immediate medical care and treatment."

Instead of calling for the immediate medical help, the officers promptly left the home. The officers never reported the incident to their supervisors nor did they seek the necessary help for the victim.

The lawsuit, which was filed on April 5th, accuses the Overland police officers of using excessive and unnecessary force and leaving the scene without getting medical help for the victim, Kenneth Hamilton. The lawsuit also accuses the Overland Police Department of not properly training their officers. Hamilton suffered a massive head injury from the fall which ultimately led to his death.

The lawsuit says that Hamilton was unarmed and had not committed any crime. The suit also states that the officers did not have a warrant for Hamilton's arrest.

The St. Louis County prosecutor has filed manslaughter charges against one officer, Andrew Ringeisen, for pushing Hamilton down the stairs, but doesn't expect to charge anyone else.

The suit was filed by Hamilton's three brothers - Michael, Joseph and Anthony Hamilton. The suit is against the city of Overland, Ringeisen and two unnamed officers, referred to as John Doe I and John Doe II.

The suit seeks damages of over $25,000.

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Grover Milam, 62 year old of Kirbyville, Missouri was killed on May 29th when a driver overcorrected and hit his car head on.

The accident occurred when the driver of the second car, Jodi Ebersol, 36 year old of Forsyth, Missouri ran off the side of the road on M76, two miles south of Forsyth. Ebersol then overcorrected, crossing the center line and striking Milam's car head on.

Milam was knocked off the road when struck and was ejected from his vehicle. Ebersol was also ejected from her vehicle after she ran off the road and overturned striking a tree.

Grover Milam was pronounced dead that the scene. Jodi Ebersol was airlifted to St. John's Hospital in Springfield with serious injuries. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, Milam was wearing a safety device but Ebersol was not.

As required by state law, the surviving driver was tested for alcohol.

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