$1M lawsuit filed against woman in death of pedestrian
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed last week seeks more than $1 million from a Washington Twp. woman accused of fatally striking a pedestrian in August while he was crossing a street in Wilmington.
Taylor Nicole Thompson, 26, is charged in Clinton County Common Pleas Court with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, reckless homicide, tampering with evidence, failure to stop after an accident and misdemeanors of OVI and assault.
Thompson was driving a 2011 Dodge Nitro around 2:15 a.m. Aug. 19 north on South Street when she struck Daniel Ray Smith of Wilmington as he was crossing South Street in the crosswalk at the intersection with Sugartree Street, according to a crash report filed by the Wilmington Police Department.
The SUV fled the scene, the report stated.
Smith was taken to Clinton Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 8 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court by Smith’s father Carl Smith Jr., who also is the administrator for his son’s estate, against Thompson and her employer MC’s Bar and Grill at 961 S. South St. in Wilmington. It seeks $1 million and punitive damages of more than $250,000.
The suit alleges that Daniel Smith was walking in a crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Thompson “at an excessive rate of speed, profoundly impaired by alcohol” and that MC’s Bar and Grill was negligent in allowing Thompson’s drinking on the job.
Thompson was served with the court papers Wednesday and the bar on Tuesday, records show.
Smith’s family sustained funeral and burial costs and suffered the loss of him, his income and future earnings and emotional anguish caused by his traumatic death, the lawsuit stated.
A hearing is scheduled for April 15 in Clinton County, where Thompson has a jury trial scheduled for June 10, court records show.
Thompson is held on $100,000 bail in the Clinton County Jail.