Following Hit-And-Run, Family Filing Lawsuit Against Trucking Company And Driver
LAWRENCE COUNTY (KDKA) -- Two months after a 19-year-old woman was hit and killed by a tractor-trailer, her family is filing a lawsuit on her behalf against the trucking company and the truck driver.
Accident investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police aren't done yet with their reconstruction report from the night Alissa Jones died in a hit-and-run.
RELATED: Lawrence County Hit-And-Run Victim Dies
Even without a report, the family has filed a civil suit.
They say one thing is clear: no one should leave the scene of an accident.
On June 30 around 11:30 p.m. on Center Avenue in West Pittsburg when the unimaginable happened outside the family's front door.
Their family car was smashed by a tractor-trailer and 19-year-old Alissa Jones was nearby.
"Nothing can bring her back, nothing can make it easier, nothing's going to fix it," said April Jones, Alissa's sister.
Alissa's older sister was home at the time of the accident when the tractor-trailer not only hit their family car but hit Alissa as well.
Alissa suffered several injuries and ultimately died at the hospital two days later.
Now a lawsuit is being filed by the law firm of Dallas Harman against the driver and the company he works for alleging the driver fled the scene, never checked and never looked back or called 911.
"This was an amazing girl who lost her life that night and there was no reason for it, it could've been prevented," said Patrick Sullivan, the family's attorney.
Alissa's sister April said her sister spent the better part of her life preparing for everything that was important to her.
"The most important thing for her was to get into college and to go to school," she said.
Alissa was already so accomplished, a member of Jr. ROTC, the rifle team and she was ranked nationally.
The lawsuit names Ag Central Inc., HAMCO Inc., out of New Wilmington and Better Equipment Inc., along with Kalmbach Trucking as defendants contending Alissa died "because of the defendants' negligent, careless and reckless conduct."
Safety records obtained by the law firm found the trucks, carriers, and drivers used by the local agriculture company and its subsidiaries had many safety violations including unsafe equipment, maintenance violations, and a drug and alcohol violation by one of its drivers within the last 24 months.
"It's about making our highways safe because if it wasn't the Jones family, it could've been another family that this happened to," Sullivan said. "We would like to see change."
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial among its claims is negligent hiring, retention, training, and supervision by the companies involved.
