
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993                   TAG: 9307220451
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

COUPLE SUES DRIVER OVER SON'S DEATH

The parents of a 21-year-old Blacksburg man killed in a head-on collision on Prices Fork Road have filed a $2 million suit against the man charged with driving the car that killed him.

David and Paula Stetler - parents of the victim, Daniel Victor Stetler - filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court against Phillip William Linkous, whose address was given as a Blacksburg apartment.

Linkous, 21, was indicted earlier this month by a Montgomery County grand jury of aggravated involuntary manslaughter in connection with Stetler's death.

Stetler, of Progress Street in Blacksburg, was driving south on Prices Fork Road on March 11 when he collided with a car driven by Linkous.

The wreck happened shortly after 9 p.m. about a mile north of Virginia 114, just above the sewage treatment plant. Stetler was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital by helicopter and was pronounced dead at about 11:30 p.m.

The suit charges that Linkous was driving his car on the two-lane highway "so carelessly, recklessly, wantonly and negligently," that he crossed into the opposite lane of travel and directly into the path of Stetler.

The suit charges that just before the accident, Linkous drove over the speed limit, passed other vehicles on double, solid yellow lines, ran a red light, was under the influence of intoxicants, and traveled in the wrong lane, nearly causing another accident.

The suit asks for $1 million in compensatory damages. It says Stetler's beneficiaries - his parents and a brother, Thomas Lowell Stetler - have suffered substantial damage and losses, including sorrow and mental anguish.

The suit also asks for $1 million in punitive damages based on the charge that Linkous' "willful, wanton and reckless conduct . . . demonstrates a conscious disregard . . . for the rights and safety of others."

Virginia State Trooper Joe Diamond said Linkous' car crossed the double line and went onto the wrong side of the road, striking Stetler's car. Linkous' car then spun and was struck by a third car driven by Cleve G. Smithers, 21, of Austinville.

Linkous was taken to Radford Community Hospital for multiple injuries, including broken hips and internal injuries, Diamond said. Smithers was treated and released at Montgomery Regional Hospital.

Diamond said that alcohol was found in Linkous' car and that hospital records indicated he was under the influence.

The Stetlers have requested a trial by jury.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB