MUNCIE, IN — The widow of a fallen Delaware County sheriff’s deputy has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Cpl. Blake Reynolds, 31, was fatally injured on the early morning of Nov. 12 while trying to help the driver of a disabled truck in the northbound lanes of Interstate 69. Another semi struck both Reynolds’ patrol vehicle and the other truck.
In her lawsuit — filed Jan. 30 in Delaware Circuit Court 2 —Allison Reynolds names as defendants both semi drivers and their employers: Gregory C. Holmes and A & G Deliveries, and Teddy M. Johnson and Parrish Dedicated Services.
Both drivers are Allen County residents, and their employers are based out of Fort Wayne.
According to the suit, Holmes on Nov. 12 was driving a semi-tractor trailer northbound on Interstate 69 near the 247-mile marker in northwestern Delaware County when he lost control of the semi, with the tractor coming to a stop in an unpaved area, and the trailer left “across the right-hand, northbound lane of travel.”
A witness called 911 dispatchers to report the incident shortly after 3 a.m., and Reynolds was sent to the scene.
The suit said Reynolds parked his Dodge Durango south of Holmes’s rig, “leaving the lights on and emergency lights activated for the purpose of alerting northbound traffic to the presence of a hazard in the roadway ahead.”
The deputy was out of his vehicle “to collect information” when Johnson’s northbound semi “without warning” struck first the deputy’s Durango and then Holmes’ trailer, according to the lawsuit.
Reynolds was also “impacted,” the suit said, “propelling him a distance from the point of impact,” resulting in fatal injuries.
The lawsuit accuses Johnson and his employer of negligence, suggesting he was driving “while fatigued, inattentive or distracted” and traveling “at a speed unreasonable under the circumstances.”
Holmes is accused of being “careless and negligent” in failing to take steps to remove his trailer from a northbound “lane of travel” on I-69, falling to call 911 dispatchers about his accident and not deploying “emergency reflectors and/or flares” at the scene.
The lawsuit asks that a jury determine damages to compensate Allison Reynolds and her husband’s estate for “the wrongful death of Blake Reynolds.”
It notes her husband’s death has “forever” cost Allison Reynolds his “love, affection, guidance and services.” The fatal crash also resulted in medical, funeral and burial expenses, the lawsuit reports.
She is represented by Indianapolis attorneys Roy and Jeffrey Tabor. Attorneys for the defendants had not filed responses as of Friday, Feb. 6.
The November crash continues to be investigated by Indiana State Police.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delaware County deputy’s widow files lawsuit after fatal I-69 crash
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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