Although no criminal charges are going to be filed against trucker Dana E.A. McCoomb, the family of bicyclist Alexander Motsenigos has gone ahead and filed a Wellesley, MA truck accident lawsuit over his wrongful death. Motsenigos, 41, he leaves behind a wife and young son, 6.
He was killed last August when his bicycle struck by the 18-wheeler truck driven by McCoomb, 51. The impact of the Wellesley tractor-trailer crash caused Motsenigos to be pulled under the large vehicle. Police say that McCoomb proceeded to leave the Massachusetts traffic crash site.
Attempts by police and the Norfolk district attorney’s office to charge McCoomb with the unsafe overtaking of a cyclist, motor vehicle homicide involving negligent operation, and not taking the proper steps to make sure that other travelers remained safe failed. Now, however, a grand jury is refusing issue an indictment on any of these charges.
Motsenigos’s family is dismayed that no criminal case will be filed against McCoomb, who has a questionable driving record (his license has been suspended at lest 19 times and he has been involved in a number of moving violations and six surchargeable accidents). However, they are suing trucker, his employer CJ Mabardy Inc. and truck owner Truck Leasing Family Limited Partnership.
The plaintiffs are accusing McCoomb of acting recklessly and negligently by trying to overtake Motsenigos when it was not a safe time to do so. They also believe that McCoomb is an “extremely dangerous” trucker and he shouldn’t have been allowed to drive the 18-wheeler. They family contends that if only the trucker had exercised basic care in operating his commercial vehicle, the deadly Wellesley bicycle crash that killed Motsenigos would never have happened.
Massachusetts Truck Accident Lawsuits
Going after a trucking company and its employees can be more complicated than a personal injury lawsuit against the driver of a car or another noncommercial vehicle. This is why you need a Boston truck accident lawyer representing you.
Truck companies tend to be experienced at combatting accident cases, and some of them will even send an experienced investigator team to the crash scene to start building a case on its behalf. You want to make sure that you, too, have someone advocating on your behalf, gathering evidence, and talking to witnesses for you. Criminal charges don’t have to be filed for you to have grounds for a civil case.
Wrongful death suit filed in Wellesley bike accident, WHDH, February 4, 2013
No indictment for trucker in Wellesley cyclist’s death, The Boston Globe, February 5, 2013
More Blog Posts:
Growth in Number of Boston Cyclists Leads to an Increase in Bicycle Accidents, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, October 10, 2012
Brockton Tractor-Trailer Driver Suffers Electrical Shock After His Truck Strikes Power Lines on I-95 in Attleboro, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, October 17, 2012
MA Judge Allows Lawsuit to Move Forward on Gillette Stadium Fatal Crash, Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, December 14, 2012