The family of a University of Alabama student killed in a crash while returning from the national championship game has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against others involved in the crash.
Natalie Baine, 20, of Roswell, died Jan. 11, three days after being critically injured in a three-vehicle wreck in Montgomery.
The pickup truck she was riding in collided with a bus carrying cheerleaders — also from the University of Alabama — and then another vehicle, Montgomery police previously said. Investigators believe the driver of the truck turned in front of the bus in an attempt to get on I-65, Martha Earnhardt, spokeswoman for Montgomery police, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The bus hit the truck, which was then hit by a Chevrolet Impala, Earnhardt said. No charges were filed in the crash.
The lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Ala., alleges negligence, gross negligence and wantonness that resulted in the wrongful death of Baine, a Montgomery-based law firm said Thursday.
The truck Baines was riding in was being driven by Hudson Riedel, president of the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Alabama, and was owned by Sigma Chi member Thomas Matheney, according to the Beasley Allen Law Firm. Both Riedel and Matheney are named as defendants in the suit, which also names Capital Motor Lines and a bus driver, Herbert James Sanders.
“It shouldn’t have happened nor should she have died that night,” attorney Chris Glover said in an emailed press release. “Careless mistakes and foolish choices have consequences in life. We will do everything we can to hold those responsible for the death of this precious young woman.”
The suit contends that the drivers involved failed to use proper care while driving the night of the crash.
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