September 20, 2011
Oklahoma

Pawnee man injured in wreck files lawsuit in Payne County District Court

By Anita Pere, Stillwater NewsPress, www.stwnewspress.com 20 September 2011

STILLWATER, Okla. – A Pawnee man injured when, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, a semi truck trailer crossed the center line and hit his vehicle has filed a lawsuit against the trucker, a woman in a vehicle following the tractor trailer and two companies.

The collision happened Aug. 17 on State Highway 108 near Yost Road in Payne County, according to a report from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The plaintiff, Jason Stierwalt, alleges negligence. He is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for serious injuries, the suit states.

Stierwalt was driving a Dodge pickup south on the two-lane highway and Timothy Crawford was driving a 2008 Peterbilt tractor trailer north. A pin in the tractor trailer’s rear axle slipped out, OHP reported at the time. The trailer was hauling a segment of a wind turbine.

A driver following the semi truck told Crawford something fell off the trailer, OHP reported. According to the suit, Venessa Lethiot was in the “trail car” behind the tractor trailer.

Crawford tapped the truck’s brakes, the load swung over the center line and collided with Stierwalt’s pickup, OHP reported.

Stierwalt was seriously injured, according to the OHP report and his suit filed Monday in Payne County District Court.

Crawford and Lethiot are defendants in the suit. Anderson Trucking Service, a Minnesota-based trucking company, and DMI Industries Inc., a company that manufactures and transports wind turbine parts, are also defendants. Crawford and Lethiot were working for the companies at the time of the crash, the suit says.

No hearing has been set in the case.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/20/pawnee-man-injured-in-wreck-files-lawsuit-in-payne-county-district-court/