Trooper Pratt’s estate files suit
Lawsuit alleges death was caused ‘wholly and solely’ by defendants’ negligent acts
QUEENSBURY, N.Y. » The estate of late state Trooper Timothy Pratt has filed suit against the truck driver he stopped to assist, his employer, and the driver of a car that struck and killed Pratt.
The suit, filed in state Supreme Court Warren County, seeks “a substantial amount of money,” alleging that Pratt’s death was caused “wholly and solely” by the defendants’ negligent acts.
Pratt, 55, a nearly 30-year state police veteran, was killed last Oct. 26 when he was struck by a passing vehicle while assisting a stopped truck driver on Ballard Road, almost directly in front of the Wilton state police station.
The suit was filed by Gansevoort resident Laurie LaFountain, as administrator of Pratt’s estate, on behalf of Pratt’s three adult children: James, of Glens Falls; Sarah, of Wilton; and Shane, of Fort Edward.
The suit was filed in Warren County because of James’s residence there.
It names Joel Duguay, of Corinth, whose car struck Pratt; truck driver Mikail Grudko, of Spencerport, Monroe County; and his em-
ployer, Monroe Transport Services of Hilton, near Rochester, as defendants.
No charges were filed and no tickets were issued following the accident, which occurred in the pre-dawn darkness at about 6:15 a.m.
Grudko, who was traveling to the large Ace Hardware distribution center on Northern Pines Road, was apparently unsure of his route and stopped his tractor-trailer, facing west, in a middle turning lane on Ballard Road.
Pratt pulled into the nearby Ballard Road Elementary School driveway and walked over to assist the driver. Pratt was struck by Duguay’s eastbound car after stepping down off the driver’s side of the tractor-trailer.
Duguay was en route to work when the accident occurred.
Later that day, during a press conference, then Troop G Commander Maj. William Keeler said, “Trooper Pratt being Trooper Pratt, he went to see if he could be of any assistance. The (truck) driver told him he had missed the turn and Trooper Pratt offered to assist him in turning around. He stepped down and was struck by a vehicle in the eastbound lane.”
The suit says Pratt’s “next of kin and distributees have sustained substantial damages.”
Brian Breedlove of the Queensbury law firm, Breedlove & Noll, representing Pratt’s estate, could not immediately be reached for comment