Trenton pays family of man who died on icy street $45K
TRENTON » A family of a man who was killed in a fatal crash in January 2015 is receiving some compensation from the city.
City council approved a $45,000 settlement for Sadeek Johnson’s family on Thursday.
Johnson, 21, of Trenton, was the sole occupant of his vehicle when he crashed into a tree on the 500 block of Greenwood Avenue on Jan. 11, 2015 near the Trenton Center senior housing complex. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
Last year, Johnson’s family filed a lawsuit alleging the city was responsible for his death by failing to address on icy patch on the road.
Then-Public Works Dirctor Jacqueline Foushee held a departmental meeting regarding the 600-foot long patch of ice that extended 18 feet from the curb into the roadway in the 500 block of Greenwood Avenue. As a result of that meeting, a supervisor in the Division of Streets was instructed to prevent motorists from traveling through the hazardous area, and to warn them of the danger.
But “nothing was done” to address the road conditions, according to the wrongful death lawsuit.
“The icy conditions were not created by rain or snow,” the family’s attorney Patrick Whalen previously said. “It was a manmade condition caused by a water main break that existed for several days. Many people complained about it and city officials knew they needed to shut off the water and fix the problem. But they didn’t.”
The police report outlines the patch of ice and discloses four separate tire marks suggested that the car was sideways prior to leaving the roadway and striking the tree, and that speed played a factor in the crash based on the amount of damage to the vehicle. It also says an officer visited Johnson at the hospital before he died and smelled “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his body that may be a contributing factor” to the accident.
The family disputed the drinking allegations, claiming he was pulled over by police in Morrisville two hours before the crash for failing to stop at a traffic sign. Johnson was also cited for having an open container because police found a broken bottle of champagne, but he was not arrested for drunk driving.
Johnson was heading back to his parents’ house on Lyndale Avenue after dropping a friend off when he got into the wreck.
“I live less than a mile from where it happened,” his mother previously told The Trentonian. “If that ice wasn’t there that night, he would’ve made it home.”
The temperature was approximately 12 degrees Fahrenheit on the night of the crash, court documents state, and prior to the accident no one took steps to remove the ice patch from the sidewalk or street.
Sadeek was employed with Amazon.com as a warehouse worker at the Robbinsville location for about three months prior to his death, and he was a certified lifeguard who taught his 15-year-old sister how to swim.
The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.