Atlanta-based singer Angie Stone was trying to get out of a van that had crashed on an Alabama highway when she was killed by a tractor-trailer that slammed into it, her children say in a new lawsuit.
Stone, 63, was a passenger in the van when she died March 1 while returning to Atlanta with family members and bandmates after a performance in Mobile, Alabama. She was the only person killed in the predawn crash.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Gwinnett County State Court, blames the drivers and owners of both vehicles as well as the makers of a collision mitigation system in the truck.
Stone’s adult children, Michael Archer II and Diamond Stone, allege the drivers of the vehicles were negligent, the truck’s collision mitigation system was faulty and the makers of the system failed to warn consumers about its shortcomings.
The defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The world lost a very bright light as a result of this senseless tragedy,” said Brandon Peak, the lead attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case. “Ms. Stone’s children are focused on raising awareness about what happened in an attempt to prevent other families from having to go through what they have been through.”
Sheila Hopkins, a Texas-based relative of Stone’s, was in the van with her and was seriously injured in the wreck, the complaint says. Hopkins is also a plaintiff in the case.
Peak said a criminal investigation is underway by Alabama authorities. He said Hopkins’ injuries include the trauma of watching Stone die.
According to the complaint, Stone and Hopkins were “properly belted” in rear-facing seats behind the front driver and passenger seats of the van, which had nine occupants. The van driver, Leethel Carter, reportedly lost control in a northbound lane of I-65 in Montgomery County.
The van overturned on its driver’s side and stopped in the left northbound lane of the highway, leaving the right northbound lane clear, the suit says. It says the occupants were not seriously injured and attempted to get out of the van, which had its headlights, taillights and “running lights” on.
Good Samaritans helped five van occupants exit the vehicle after pulling their own cars over to the interstate’s right shoulder and leaving their hazard lights on, the complaint says, adding that other motorists were able to see the wrecked van and drive past it without incident.
The weather at the time of the crash was clear and the relevant section of highway is straight and flat, the suit says.
As Stone and Hopkins were trying to leave the van around 4:25 a.m., it was hit from behind by a tractor-trailer going almost 70 mph with a load of sugar bound for Forest Park, the suit alleges. It says the truck was owned by Iowa-headquartered transportation company CRST and driven by Texas resident Jared Wilkinson, who was listening to music through headphones and not paying proper attention to the road.
The truck’s collision mitigation system — made by Oregon-based company Daimler Truck North America and its subsidiary, Detroit Diesel Corporation — did not detect the van, the lawsuit alleges. It says the system also failed to activate the truck’s brakes.
The severe force of the collision ejected Stone from the van and pinned her underneath it, her children said. They said she suffered while trapped until she died from her injuries.
Stone was a Grammy-nominated R&B singer.
The complaint says Carter, a Georgia resident, was hired to drive Stone and her entourage to and from Alabama in a van owned by Atlantan Joseph Robinson and affiliated Georgia companies Executive Elite Transportation and Good 2 Go Cafe.
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