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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Suit: Boy struck by truck driver while trying to walk to school

The guardian of a minor child claims the child suffered serious facial and other injuries after a truck driver struck the child while he was attempting to walk to school.


Lynne Huffman filed a lawsuit March 5 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Robert Eschmann, Twin Lake Trucking and the city of Columbia.

In her complaint, Huffman alleges the minor child, identified only as G.H., was attempting to walk to Columbia Middle School on March 18, 2013. When the minor approached the intersection of Valmeyer Road and State Route 3, he pushed the pedestrian crosswalk button and waited for it to turn to a walk signal, according to the complaint.

“When the white ‘WALK’ symbol appeared, plaintiff entered the intersection into the crosswalk and began walking across State Route 3,” the suit states. “At that same time and place, defendant Robert Eschmann was traveling southbound on State Route 3 in a 2009 GMC Sierra owned by defendant Twin Lake Trucking. Robert Eschmann allowed his vehicle to collide with plaintiff in the western most lane on State Route 3 while plaintiff was in the crosswalk.”

Because of the collision, G.H. suffered severe and disabling injuries to his face, head, back, knees, hands and right arm, the complaint says. He also lost his enjoyment of life and endured significant pain and suffering, Huffman claims.

Huffman blames Eschmann for causing the collision, saying he negligently failed to yield the right-of-way, failed to maintain a careful lookout, failed to drive at the appropriate speed, failed to prevent his GMC from striking G.H., failed to maintain appropriate control of his vehicle and failed to exercise proper precautions when approaching an intersection.

Huffman is seeking a judgment of more than $150,000, plus costs and other relief the court deems just. She is being represented by Matthew T. Nagel of Bistate Injury Law Center in Chesterfield, Mo.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 14-L-191.

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