Estate Sues Road District
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The estate of a Coulterville man killed following a June 1, 2009 accident at an unmarked intersection north of Tamaroa has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Perry County saying the county's unit road district is liable for the inadequate site distance at the intersection.
A 1997 Chevrolet car driven by Brianna Stehl, 17, of Pinckneyville was struck in the passenger side by a 1992 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Travis Reidelberger, a Tamaroa native, now of Waltonville.
Stehl had three passengers in her vehicle--Thomas Bittle, 19, of Tamaroa; Danielle Burton, 17, of Pinckneyville and Charles Solt, 20, of Coulterville.
The pickup truck driver, Reidelberger, was taken to Pinckneyville Community Hospital for treatment.
Burton and Solt were taken to Pinckneyville Community Hospital and later transferred by medical helicopter to St. Louis hospitals. Stehl and Bittle were both flown directly from the scene to St. Louis hospitals for treatment.
Solt passed away at the St. Louis Hospital from his injuries.
The accident involving a car and a truck was at the intersection of Falcon and Grosbeak roads northwest of Tamaroa.
The lawsuit was filed by Mary Jo Bird.
County engineer Doug Bishop, in a letter faxed to the Du Quoin Evening Call Tuesday morning, said no decision has been made on the installation of stop signs at unmarked crossing(s) north of Tamaroa pending the outcome of litigation from the June 1 car crash.
Bishop said a statement in the newspaper's story which read "The Perry County Highway Department removed trees to improve visibility, but as of yet has not marked the intersection." was incorrect.
Bishop said no trees have been removed, but at some point hopes the Knapp family will trim or remove the trees on their private property themselves or the county will volunteer to do it for them. He said the intersection will remain intact as it was at the time of the accident pending an outcome. He said there is no presumption of negligence on the unit road district's part and the entire issue of unmarked intersections will be revisited. The county is covered by an Illinois Risk Management insurance pool policy, whose underwriters will defend against this lawsuit.