The household of Grammy-nominated R&B legend Angie Stone has filed a wrongful dying lawsuit following the tragic freeway accident that claimed the singer’s life within the early morning hours of March 1, 2025.
In response to court docket paperwork obtained by WSBTV, the lawsuit filed on Sept. 2 in Gwinnett County by Angie Stone’s kids, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, claims that Stone survived the preliminary crash when the Sprinter van she was driving in overturned. Whereas passersby helped 5 of the 9 passengers escape, Stone was nonetheless making an attempt to exit when a tractor-trailer slammed into the van. She was ejected and pinned beneath, finally dying from her accidents, the lawsuit claims. Stone’s household believes that the tractor-trailer driver was inattentive on the time of the crash and that the car’s collision avoidance system did not perform accurately, amongst different claims.
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Angie Stone Was Allegedly Nonetheless Alive Throughout The First Crash, In accordance To The Go well with
Stone, together with a number of members of the family and bandmates, was touring northbound by means of Montgomery County, Alabama, after performing the evening earlier than in Cell on March 1. The group was being transported in a 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van as a part of a contracted journey from Atlanta to Cell and again. The van was owned or operated by Good 2 Go Cafe LLC, Govt Elite Transportation, LLC, and/or Joseph L. Robinson, and pushed by Leethel Carter, the lawsuit alleges.
Whereas en route again to Atlanta within the pre-dawn hours, tragedy struck. Round 4:00 AM, WSBTV experiences that the driving force, Carter, reportedly misplaced management of the Sprinter van whereas touring on I-65 North. The car veered off the left facet of the highway and, in an try to appropriate the trail again onto the freeway, the van flipped onto its driver’s facet and got here to a cease within the left lane.
Regardless of the van overturning, the lawsuit claims that Stone and a number of other others inside survived the preliminary crash with out life-threatening accidents. A number of passengers started making an attempt to exit the car, aided by different motorists who stopped to assist. Good Samaritans used their hazard lights to alert oncoming site visitors, and 5 of the 9 passengers managed to flee the wreckage.
The Lawsuit Claims A Second Collision Occurred, Killing Stone
However at roughly 4:25 AM, a CRST tractor-trailer pushed by Jared Wilkinson allegedly approached the scene within the left lane at full freeway velocity. The truck, a 2021 Freightliner, was geared up with Detroit Assurance 5.0 — a collision mitigation system designed to detect obstacles within the highway and robotically brake if the driving force fails to react.
In response to the lawsuit, Wilkinson was allegedly inattentive to the highway and did not see the disabled Sprinter van. Moreover, the Detroit Assurance system in his car did not warn the driving force or activate the brakes, the lawsuit claimed. Because of this, the CRST tractor-trailer slammed into the overturned van with out braking, inflicting a catastrophic secondary collision.
In the mean time of impression, Stone was nonetheless contained in the Sprinter van, making an attempt to flee. The collision’s drive was immense, ejecting the star from the car and pinning her beneath it. She remained acutely aware and trapped underneath the wreckage earlier than finally succumbing to her accidents, in line with the go well with.
Now, the household of Stone is pursuing authorized motion in opposition to a number of events, together with the transportation corporations, the van driver, the tractor-trailer driver, and the producers of the Detroit Assurance 5.0 system—Daimler Truck North America LLC and Detroit Diesel Company.
The lawsuit alleges negligence on a number of fronts: from the hiring and oversight of the van driver, to the tractor-trailer driver’s failure to take care of correct consciousness, and the obvious malfunction of the collision avoidance system designed to stop the sort of tragedy.
Stone’s household is in search of compensation for medical bills, authorized charges, damages, and another reduction the court docket finds acceptable.
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