Wrongful death lawsuit filed over 2020 crash that killed popular West Penn Power lineman
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Relatives of a New Stanton man killed Oct. 21, 2020, when a tractor trailer slammed into the rear of his car along Interstate 70 sued the rig’s driver and his California employer for wrongful death, according to court papers.
The administrator of the estate of Dillon W. Walton, 27, a popular lineman with West Penn Power Co., filed a 15-page lawsuit against the truck’s driver, Charles C. Walker, 58, of Columbus, Ohio, and his employer, Sewing Collection Inc., a Vernon, Calif., based manufacturer of garment and packaging supplies earlier this month.
The lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County Court seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit contends Walton was stopped in traffic on the Matthew Smelser Memorial Bridge in South Huntingdon when the accident occurred.
“Despite having a clear and unobstructed view of the stopped vehicles in front of him, defendant Charles Walker, continued to drive the tractor trailer directly at the stopped vehicles at a speed of 59-65 miles per hour without slowing down,” the 19-page lawsuit contends.
The lawsuit, filed by Latrobe attorney Michael Ferguson, said the speed limit along the eastbound stretch is 55 miles per hour.
Walker’s 2016 International Harvester tractor trailer, weighing 54,000 pounds, partially struck another car that attempted to avoid a collision, “then slammed into the back of the Chevrolet Cavalier operated by decedent Dillon Walton with tremendous force.”
The lawsuit said Walton’s car weighed 2,500 pounds.
State police in Belle Vernon said traffic was stalled along the stretch due to a prior accident.
The impact of the collision “crushed” Walton’s vehicle into another tractor trailer that was stopped in front of him, the lawsuit says.
Walton was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Dillon was an incredible young man and, needless to say, his family is devastated by this. His death is tragic and the manner in which the accident occurred is simply inexcusable,” Ferguson said Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleges Walker “failed to keep a proper lookout for vehicles in the roadway in front of him.”
It also maintains Walker “operated said vehicle in such a reckless, careless, negligent and wanton manner so as to cause it to collide with the rear of decedent’s vehicle while traveling at a speed of 62 miles per hour.”
As for Sewing Collection Inc., the lawsuit claims the company “failed to employ driver condition monitor systems which would have allowed them to monitor the driving of defendant Charles Walker so as to ensure that his operation of the tractor trailer was being done safely and within appropriate legal and safety standards so as not to endanger other motorists including (Walton).”
On June 21, Rostraver District Judge Charles Christner ordered Walker to stand trial on multiple charges filed by state police in connection with the crash, including homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, reckless endangerment, following too closely and driving at an unsafe speed.
Walker, who is free on a recognizance bond, is scheduled to appear Wednesday before Judge Christopher A. Feliciani for formal arraignment on the criminal and traffic charges, according to online court dockets.
During Walton’s Oct. 29 funeral service, hundreds of family members and friends celebrated his life, and dozens of West Penn Power utility trucks and area ambulances lined up along Main Street outside the Beatty-Rich Funeral Home in Madison in his memory.
A telephone message left with Walker was not immediately returned. Attempts to reach Sewing Collection officials for comment were unsuccessful.