Personal Injury Law

Four killed in collision with driver heading into oncoming traffic

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

Four people were killed and two were injured early Saturday morning in a Missouri car accident on Dougherty Ferry Road.

The driver of a 1997 Honda Accord, Nitesh Adusumilli, 27, was turning into the westbound lanes of Dougherty Ferry Road when the accident occurred, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Another car, a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Christine Miller, 41, was heading east in the westbound lanes and crashed into the passenger side of Adusumilli?s car.

Adusumilli and Miller were both injured and taken to St. John?s Mercy Hospital for treatment. Four passengers in Adusumilli?s car, Anusha Anumolu, 23; Satya Chinta, 25; Anita Lakshmi, 23; and Prya Muppvarapu, 22; were all killed.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is reporting that Adusumilli has regained consciousness, but he is still disoriented and hospital workers have not yet explained to him why he is in the hospital and what happened to the other people in his car, one of whom was his fiancée.

An investigation into the accident is ongoing. The Post Dispatch reports that charges are pending and that Miller may have been drinking prior to the crash. If this turns out to be true, it will be another in a recent string of fatal accidents involving drunken drivers in the St. Louis area, including a similar accident we posted here involving a driver heading the wrong way into traffic.

Setting aside the enormous emotional impact of this tragedy and looking at the facts from a personal injury lawyer?s perspective, once the charges are filed and sobriety test results are released they will go a long way toward pinning down liability and negligence on the driver responsible for the accident.

The Post Dispatch is also reporting that Miller is a police officer, but no sovereign immunity issues should arise if a St. Louis area car accident attorney is brought in to file suit as Miller was not in a police car and was not performing her duties as an officer.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on March 21, 2009 (boomark / email).