It’s hard to conceive of a worse life-ending scenario than a pedestrian being struck by one vehicle and then dragged for miles by another. Yet, that was the fate of one local resident who met her demise earlier in November 2019.
In its recap of the year’s top stories, Wheeling media outlet WTRF included this sad tale. On Nov. 7, shortly after 6:30 a.m., a pedestrian was walking along Route 2 in Warwood, just north of Wheeling.
Driver hits woman walking
A driver in a pickup struck her and pulled over to call police and notify them that he had hit a pedestrian. However, when he got out of his truck, he saw nobody lying injured in the road or leaving the scene.
First responders and police arrived and searched the vicinity for a wounded pedestrian but found no one.
Driver reports grisly discovery
Meanwhile, a driver who had been traveling behind the pickup truck on Route 2 drove to her intended destination several miles away on Washington Avenue.
She was horrified to see that she had unwittingly dragged the body of a 54-year-old woman from the scene of the Route 2 accident. The pedestrian, a Bridgeport, Ohio, resident, was declared dead at the scene.
Autopsy findings, other factors, still unknown
The West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office conducted the autopsy. However, results are still pending.
Case raises liability questions
This case certainly is a tragedy for the deceased and her surviving family and friends. However, from a purely legal standpoint, it poses some pertinent questions.
Did the pedestrian herself bear any liability for the accident? Was the pickup driver who initially hit the pedestrian at fault for her death? Or could she have indeed survived the initial impact had not the second car then struck and dragged her for so many miles?
Complex cases deserve special attention
Cases with complicated liability issues such as this sad example can be very difficult to unravel. Indeed, it is cases like this that most need an aggressive personal injury attorney at the helm to ferret out elusive facts regarding the liability of the at-fault parties.