Helen Shannon, 87, suffered critical injuries in a Moorpark pedestrian accident after a delivery truck driver backed over her and struck her, the Ventura County Star reports. Shannon was apparently walking down the sidewalk to her senior apartment complex on Park Lane the morning of March 4, 2009 when a truck driver failed to see her as he was backing out of a driveway.
A passerby who saw the Ventura pedestrian accident told the trucker that he had run over the woman. The truck driver then pulled forward, removing the large truck from Shannon’s legs. The injured victim was taken to an area hospital where she was listed in critical condition. Ventura County Sheriff’s Department officials say they don’t suspect the truck driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The 37-year-old driver from Fillmore had just finished making a delivery to a construction site when the pedestrian accident occurred.
What an unfortunate chain of events for this elderly woman! I understand she’s in critical condition and hope and pray she will have a speedy and complete recovery.
According to California Highway Patrol’s 2006 statistics, there were 11 deaths and 189 injuries involving pedestrian accidents in Ventura County. In Moorpark, there were no deaths and five injuries involving pedestrian accidents during the same period. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), there were 4,654 pedestrian accidents in the United States in 2007.
In this case, based on the newspaper report, it appears that the delivery truck driver did not see Helen Shannon walking down the sidewalk. Police say he was not impaired. But it is possible that he was careless and not paying attention to his surroundings. As far as this pedestrian accident is concerned, the truck driver and his employer could be held liable for the accident and injuries caused to the woman. Helen Shannon would be entitled to receive compensation for medical expenses – past and future – and compensation for other damages as well.
Helen Shannon’s family would be well-advised to retain the services of an experienced personal injury attorney qualified in auto versus pedestrian collision cases. Other than the obvious legal issues, I would want my investigator out to the scene to see if there is anything about the physical layout of the driveway where this incident occurred, that was dangerous or set up this accident to happen. Any negligence on the part of the property owner for a dangerous condition should also be investigated.