cost to Illinois taxpayers for state trooper Matt Mitchell’s reckless crash on Interstate 64 moved close to $9 million this week as the last claim was settled involving the fiery collision that killed two teens and injured a woman and her husband.
The couple, Kelly and Christine Marler, of Fayetteville, were awarded $700,000 in a decision made Monday and announced Tuesday by the Illinois Court of Claims.
The family of the teens, Jessica Uhl, 18, and Kelli Uhl, 13, was awarded $8 million Jan. 20 in the largest award ever granted by the special court that hears civil lawsuits against the state.
Mitchell was driving full throttle, at 126 mph, and sending and receiving e-mails just 2.5 seconds before the impact on I-64 near Illinois Route 158 about noon Nov. 23, 2007, according to investigators. He also had been talking on his cell phone with his girlfriend moments before, while responding to a wreck where other help had already arrived.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/couple-to-get-in-damages-for-illinois-trooper-s-crash/article_5b5c7fb2-2b3a-11e1-a6b6-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1hF7T4tGA
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