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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 10, 1995                   TAG: 9505100052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LIPSTICK PRINT ON TRUCK BUMPER HELPS SETTLE SUIT

A police photo of the red lipstick print on the truck's white bumper would have been powerful evidence if the woman's case had gone before a jury, police and lawyers involved in the case said.

The woman, 41, was walking across a busy Arlington street at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 17, 1992, when a refrigerated delivery truck for Metropolitan Poultry and Seafood ran a red light and hit her, police said. The truck left 57 feet of skid marks before striking the woman, who was wearing headphones.

Police charged the driver, Floyd Armwood Jr. of Arlington, with reckless driving. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of improper driving.

Nearly every bone in the woman's face was broken, and both of her wrists were fractured, said her lawyer, Edwin A. Sheridan.

``The photo was very helpful,'' in reaching a settlement with the food company's insurer, Sheridan said. ``That was an appealing piece of evidence - a jury hook,'' he said. ``It was an absolutely perfect imprint of her lipstick.''

The accident damaged the woman's brain, and she lost her job as a legal secretary. She has been unable to work since, the lawyer said.

The woman, who remained anonymous as part of the settlement reached late last month in Arlington County Circuit Court, was in a coma for 17 days after the accident, Sheridan said.