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June 11, 2008

Widow says negligence of GMC killed her husband

By BOB GIBBINS

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — The widow of a Cherokee County man killed in a crash two years ago is seeking damages from an auto manufacturer, alleging vehicle defects prohibited him from surviving the crash.

Terri Ragsdale, administrator of Raymond Lee Ragsdale’s estate, filed suit Tuesday against General Motors Corp. Raymond Ragsdale died in a June 10, 2006, crash while driving a 1997 GMC Sonoma pickup that rolled several times and ejected the driver.

The truck was in substantially the same condition at the time of the crash as it was when it was initially sold, the suit alleges.

The suit claims GMC failed to:

• Properly design the vehicle so a driver’s front air bag would deploy in the event of a “reasonably foreseeable” head-on collision of the type that would be expected to cause injury.

• Employ a proper sensing system in the vehicle that would trigger the driver’s front air bag to deploy in the event of a foreseeable head-on collision that could cause injury.

• Warn that the driver’s front air bag would not be deployed in the event of a head-on collision.

• Properly design the vehicle’s driver restraint system, including the steering wheel and column, to mitigate injury-causing forces in a frontal crash.

• Properly design the glass in the side front windows in a way that would case them to shatter on impact.

• Properly design the vehicle with adequate stability.

• Properly design the roof and its supporting structures, causing it to collapse with rollover.

The suit also states Terri Ragsdale has suffered the “loss of love and affection” of her husband, as well as his financial support, and that she incurred medical, funeral and burial expenses and will continue to suffer in the future.

Ragsdale seeks damages in excess of $10,000, court costs, interest and other relief. She is represented by Tulsa attorney Fred Schraeder.

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The use of cell phones while driving is increasingly becoming an issue. What do you think about cell phone use by emergency personnel, like law enforcement officers, EMTs, firemen, etc.?

• If the law allows the common citizen to use cell phones while driving, emergency personnel should be able to also.
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