THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607270199
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 55 lines
The family of a man killed last month when a Chesapeake fire truck collided with his pickup has sued the fire truck driver, challenging the official version of the accident and alleging that the driver was reckless.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court by the family of Charles Eugene Rogers. The only defendant is fire truck driver Suzanne Heather Powell-Baker.
Rogers, 34, of the 9600 block of 2nd Bay St. in East Ocean View, Norfolk, was killed instantly in the accident on Great Bridge Boulevard about 1 p.m. on June 18.
Police have said Rogers tried to pass a car and pulled out in front of oncoming Engine 42 in the 600 block of Great Bridge Blvd. The fire engine from Station 4 had lights on and siren blaring, according to the official account.
The lawsuit offers a different version. It says that Rogers' pickup stayed in the correct lane and that Rogers pulled over to the right as far as road construction would allow.
The lawsuit gives this account:
Shortly before the accident, Powell-Baker passed an 18-wheel truck and a second car at more than 55 mph in a 45 mph zone, with no siren.
As she approached a curve, Powell-Baker crossed over the double yellow line while passing a car. The fire engine driver lost control as she drove between a dump truck and another car. She also narrowly missed hitting the truck.
Powell-Baker applied her brakes as she slid between the dump truck and car while straddling the solid double line. She nearly collided with two vehicles that had pulled off to the right. At that point, while traveling in the lane of oncoming traffic, the fire engine struck Rogers' truck.
The lawsuit seeks $5 million in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.
``One of the most egregious things here is that the facts represented to the public were in direct conflict to what witnesses told us,'' John E. Zydron, the attorney for Rogers' estate, said in an interview. ``There is no dispute that she hit the plaintiff in his lane. What is at issue is they say he had returned to his side of the road. We say he never left his lane.''
Zydron said he was troubled that someone ``minding his own business and doing the right thing'' could be portrayed as a wrongdoer because ``the accident investigation was not as thorough as required to reveal the true facts.''
Fire truck driver Powell-Baker could not be reached for comment Friday. Chesapeake Fire Marshal Thomas H. Cooke said, ``We still stand by the police department's report.'' He declined to comment further.
A lawsuit presents only one side of a dispute. The defendant has three weeks to file a reply.
The accident was the first fatality in Chesapeake involving an emergency vehicle in many years. Cooke said the last incidents he could recall were in the early 1960s. One such accident involved a medic unit in Western Branch. The other involved a fire truck in Great Bridge, he said. by CNB