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Civil action aimed at driver of semiDURAND, Nov 28, 2010 (The Leader-Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Four people, a survivor of a crash last year that killed an Eau Claire woman and the woman's three children, have filed civil lawsuits against a man they claim was using his cell phone at the time of the collision. The lawsuits against Countryside Co-op Transport of Durand, its insurance carrier and truck driver Duane Brantner were filed by Yolanda Saldana, 18, of Denmark and Kendra, Tiffany and Ashley-Faye Nelson of Racine, children of Michelle Nelson, who was killed in the accident. Brantner, 53, of Durand, was cited Nov. 4, 2009, for inattentive driving in the Pepin County crash. Wisconsin State Patrol Officer William Berger issued the $263 citation, which Brantner paid Dec. 1. Berger said he spoke at length with Pepin County District Attorney Jon Seifert about possible criminal charges against Brantner in the case, citing evidence and inconsistencies in Brantner's accounts of the crash. Seifert on Tuesday said he'd met several times with Berger and an accident reconstructionist and reviewed a "voluminous" investigative report before deciding he would not charge Brantner with homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle. "Based on what I saw in the report and the statements of the driver, I couldn't convince myself that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Seifert said. "And that's what I would have had to convince a jury of. "It was a borderline decision worthy of great consideration of whether criminal charges should be filed," he said. Brantner, a veteran trucker, was driving a 2008 Kenworth semi owned by Countryside when it collided with a 2002 Ford Windstar being driven by Michelle Nelson, 38, of Eau Claire on April 28, 2009, on Highway 85, northeast of Durand near the Dunn County line. Nelson was pronounced dead at the scene. Her foster daughter, Saldana, a front-seat passenger, received numerous injuries to her upper body. Saldana's daughter, Esperanza, 1 month old at the time, and Carter Bauer of Eau Claire, 19 months at the time, were backseat passengers and were airlifted to a Rochester, Minn., medical center but were not seriously injured. Their car seats were found intact. Police and witness accounts indicate Nelson was looking for a new place to live and was westbound on Highway 85 when she signaled a right turn but switched to a left turn signal and turned in front of the truck Brantner was driving. Brantner was headed to Durand after filling the tanker with diesel fuel near Chippewa Falls. He veered to the left lane in attempting to pass the minivan. Yolanda Saldana told police Nelson signaled to turn right but then realized she had missed the proper turn and signaled a left turn to turn around in a driveway when the minivan was struck after it partially crossed the center line. The truck pushed the van into the right ditch. Brantner initially told Trooper Berger that he was not using a cell phone at the time of the collision. Brantner had a hand-held cell phone and a truck-mounted cell phone in the cab. In a subsequent interview, after Berger obtained cell phone records and contacted the person on the phone with Brantner at the time of the collision, Brantner admitted he was using a cell phone at the time of the crash. Records indicate Brantner made 11 truck cell phone calls between 9:49 and 10:27 a.m., the times he filled the tanker and the time of the crash. Between 4:32 a.m. and 10:27 a.m., he made nine calls from his hand-held cell phone and 21 on the truck cell phone. Berger also said Brantner's statements about the speed of his truck and accelerating to try and pass the minivan before it turned into his path didn't concur with the truck engine's electronic control module records. Waukesha attorney John McVoy, representing Countryside and Brantner, in a written response, denied Brantner was "negligent in any respect whatsoever." He also said: "Brantner may have been presented with an emergency situation that was out of his control that led to the alleged accident." La Crosse attorney Terence Collins, representing the Nelsons, claimed Brantner was speeding, going too fast for conditions, inattentive, failed to properly manage the truck and was following too close. Collins also claimed Countryside was at fault for supplying two cell phones to Brantner and encouraging him to use them while driving, knowing it was highly dangerous. Green Bay attorney Dan Whetter, representing Saldana, claims Brantner was negligent in the manner he was driving at the time of the accident but has not made any specific allegations. No court dates are scheduled for either of the civil cases, which may be combined for some proceedings. Rupnow can be reached at 715-830-5831, 800-236-7077 or [email protected]. To see more of The Leader-Telegram or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.leadertelegram.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |