Chesapeake, VA Wrongful Death Lawyer Report – $6 Million Lawsuit Brought over Death of Chesapeake Crossing Guard

The driver who hit and killed popular Chesapeake, VA school crossing guard Lovette Person has been ordered to pay just $250.

As Chesapeake, VA wrongful death attorneys, we don’t believe this sum represents justice for a life. However, lawyers acting for Person’s family have also filed a wrongful death lawsuit for $6 million.

Tiare Bees, 32 from Chesapeake was ordered to pay the $250 fine for the accident in October, 2011 that claimed the life of Ms. Person as she did her job protecting kids crossing the road outside Western Branch Intermediary School, the Virginian-Pilot reported.

Under a plea agreement in Chesapeake General District Court, Bees admitted one count of improper driving. She had originally been charged with reckless driving over the Oct. 3 crash in which she said she had been blinded by the sun before she hit the crossing guard in her Toyota Tundra.

The Pilot reported the victim’s family has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the at-fault driver claiming she “failed to slow for a designated school zone, failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to control her vehicle, exceeded a safe speed for the existing conditions and was generally inattentive.”

Stephen Swain, the attorney for the family, told the Pilot it appeared clear to him that the driver should have stopped when he saw a crossing guard with a stop sign in her hand.

The victim’s family pointed the crossing guard was clearly visible. She was standing in an intersection in her uniform, complete with reflective gear and she was using a flag and a whistle.

As experienced Chesapeake, VA crosswalk injury attorneys, we have reported many times that a wrongful death lawsuit can result in a large payment, even when the criminal law gives the defendant a light sentence or no sentence at all.

When a crossing guard is outside a school cars have a duty to slow down. This partly explains why a crossing guard had not been killed in Chesapeake for four decades before last year.

Likewise on a crosswalk, which has a speed limit of 35 miles or less, drivers are meant to slow down or stop if pedestrians are crossing.