Family of Hillcrest teacher killed in I-44 crash sues driver, Amazon
The family of Hillcrest High School teacher Jennifer Saylor Bryant has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man driving the semi-trailer that struck her vehicle and companies he worked for, including Amazon.
The lawsuit filed April 23 alleged Bashir Mohamed, of Minneapolis, was likely tired and distracted when he was driving west on Interstate 44 in Springfield. He swerved off the left side of the road, drove through the median cable barrier, and entered oncoming traffic, where he hit the eastbound Toyota minivan driven by Bryant.
Mohamed was hauling freight for Amazon at the time of the crash.
Bryant, who spent 20 years teaching science at Hillcrest, had just left the high school and was headed to pick up one of her four children.
The suit was filed by Bryant's husband, Peter, the couple's minor children, and her mother, Marcelene Saylor. It named Mohamed, passenger and co-driver Abdullahi Sharifsahal, as well as BIHI Transport LLC, Amazon and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.
The suit alleges Amazon and BIHI Transport LLC should have known Mohamed was not fit to drive because of his "propensity to drive distracted and dangerously." The suit argued Mohamed was not properly monitored or trained and it was negligent for the companies to trust him to drive and transport freight.
Mohamed and Sharifsahal were engaged in a joint venture to operate the vehicle, which is why he was named.
The suit alleged more than 20 ways Mohamed was negligent including "falling asleep while driving," failing to maintain control of his tractor and trailer, driving at an excessive speed for the conditions, traveling in the wrong direction on the roadway, and texting, talking on the phone or searching the internet while driving.
A jury trial is sought along with unspecified damages. The suit alleged Bryant was wrongfully killed and taken away from her family.
The suit alleged Amazon and BIHI were also directly negligent in a number of ways including failing to properly train and monitor drivers, creating a culture that failed to discourage unsafe driving, not maintaining the semi-trailer in a roadworthy condition, and failing to perform background check and driving history of Mohamed and Sharifsahal.
It also alleged a "sleep study" should have been conducted on Mohamed before he was allowed to drive.
The suit also named Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, alleging it failed to properly maintain the roadway and median cable barriers on I-44, just west of U.S. 65, where the crash occurred.
It alleged if the cables had been designed or installed differently, they may have adequately slowed or stopped the semi-trailer. It argued they were in "a dangerous or defective condition" at the time of the collision.
In addition to Bryant, the semi-trailer driven by Mohamed, 32, also hit a Freightliner used by FexEx. Mohamed and Sharifsahal were transported to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorney Joseph Chandler Gregg. No attorney is listed for the defendants. The case was assigned to Greene County Judge Derek Ankrom and a court summons for each defendant was issued Wednesday.