Freightliner driver ran red light, suit claims

A man claims he suffered head and body injuries after a truck driver ran a red light and struck his vehicle.

Ricardo Carillo-Llamas filed a lawsuit March 20 in Madison County Circuit Court against Walter Louis Vincent and Mitchell Transport.

In his complaint, Carillo-Llamas claims he was driving on Interstate 55 and approaching the exit ramp to Illinois Route 157 in Collinsville on March 21, 2011, when he proceeded down the exit ramp and through a green light across Illinois Route 157. Suddenly, Vincent, who was driving a 1999 Freightliner truck owned by defendant Mitchell Transport north on Illinois Route 157, failed to obey a red light and struck the side of Carillo-Llamas’s vehicle, according to the complaint.

Because of the collision, Carillo-Llamas became sick, sore, lame and disordered; suffered great physical pain and mental anguish; and incurred medical costs, the suit states.

He blames Vincent for causing the collision, saying he negligently failed to stop at an intersection with a red light, drove too fast, failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to control his vehicle and failed to yield the right-of-way.

In his complaint, Carillo-Llamas seeks a judgment of no more than $150,000, plus costs.

William J. Mateyka of Mateyka and Associates in Granite City will be representing him.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-461.