Iowa Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyer News for February 18, 2012

First we have a school bus from Knoxville colliding with a car running a stop sign and the bus driver (Annette Pitt) having to be airlifted to Mercy Hospital. This is a no brainer for who is at fault. Eight kids, eight mind you, were injured and needed to be taken to the hospital. The other car was a Toyota Prius, the driver is reported to be Kendra Dorn, 19 from Oskaloosa and the passenger Edwin Smith, 19 were treated and released. Iowa Courts Online was under maintenance at the time of this writing so no information could be obtained on Dorn in the Iowa court system. There are three stories on a search using Facebook. Link. Link. Link. There are a lot of stories on this accident. There will be numerous claims against the at-fault driver and it’s doubtful anyone carries enough insurance for this one, especially a young adult. That means those filing claims better not forget their own insurance companies are not their friends or on their side, but will be adversaries; meaning PYOA. Here is an interesting photograph taken at the scene.

Car, school bus collide near Knoxville; 11 injured [includes video from WHO-HD]
DesMoinesRegister.com
The bus rolled over and came to rest on its wheels after the accident. It was taking students home from school when it was hit. / Steve Woodhouse/Knoxville Journal-Express KNOXVILLE, IA. — A Knoxville school bus driver was seriously injured Monday ...

This next collision takes us to the east side of the state to Solon, Iowa. A head-on collision gets ugly not much uglier than this one. The report has one car drifting over the center line, one has to wonder why? Was the driver distracted and not paying enough attention? We are working on a cell phone case right now and have hired experts from out of state to present what they call situation blindness. It’s an interesting concept having to do with drivers having the same kind of driving skills as when drunk. Here is a quote from the article in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and by KCRG: “Iowa State Patrol Trooper Mike Hicks said the southbound car drifted into the northbound lane and side-swiped a Chevy Suburban driven by Stephen Thompson, 52, of Solon. The car then struck a Ford Explorer head-on.

The driver of the car, Gregory Engrav, 37, of Solon, was killed in the crash. His son, Zachary Engrav, 5, died later of injuries he received in the crash.

The driver of the SUV, Melissa Bachus, 44,  of Solon, was taken by ambulance to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Hicks said. She was in stable condition.”

2 dead in accident near Solon
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
SOLON, Iowa-- - A father and his son were killed and a woman was injured following a head-on crash Monday morning near Solon. A silver car and a white sport-utility vehicle collided around 8 am on Ely Road just south of 140th Street NE.

AP top news in Iowa at 4:58 pm CST
KTVU San Francisco
AP SOLON, Iowa (AP) — A father and his 6-year-old son have been killed in a head-on collisionnear Solon in eastern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened about 8 am when a car driven by Gregory Engrav, of Solon, veered across the ...

Next we head to Humboldt County where two people died and three others injured. Two were reported to be jail inmates. This one will get ugly very quickly. The two drivers died after colliding head-on. The third car is where the inmates were riding. The jailer, Paul Keller of Manson was driving. No indication who the inmates were. The young driver, Katherine Kofoot, a junior studying horticulture died from the impact. She was not far from her home when the accident happened. She was a twin and hailed from Algona who graduated from Algona High in 2009 and then from North Iowa Area Community College in 2011. She sure seemed to be a promising student and valuable member of Iowa’s community. She liked to ski and overcame a learning disability. Here is a nice story in the Messenger News, Katherine Leona-Jo Kofoot. There’s no getting over something like this. I feel sorry for the parents and her sister. The other driver was 75-years-old; the age certainly raises the question we will all face, at what age is it time to give up your driver’s license? Here are some articles from The Verdict discussing age and drivers’ licenses. More from The Edict.

UPDATE WITH NAMES: 2 dead in Humboldt County accident
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
HUMBOLDT, Iowa --- The Iowa State Patrol said two people died and two jail inmates injured in a head-on collision north of Humboldt Friday. The deceased have been identified as Jimmie Dean Faltinson, 75, of Rutland, and Kathrine Leona Jo Kofoot, 20, ...

ISU student dies in head-on collision Friday
Iowa State Daily
The accident occurred just north of Humboldt, off of Highway 169. A 1990 Delta Oldsmobile, driven by 75-year-old Jimmie Faltinson of Rutland, Iowa, was driving southbound in the northbound lane of Highway 169 when it collided head-on with a Chevy ...

The next accident involves a large piece of Ag Equipment. The ISP report has the 49-year-old driver turning a Terragator fertilizer truck into the path of a mini-van and the driver, Loren Clasen of New Liberty getting killed. It’s a failure to yield type of case.

Durant man dies in Scott County accident
Radio Iowa
An eastern Iowa man is dead following a collision between a piece of ag equipment and a van. It happened a little after 3 Tuesday afternoon on a rural Scott County road, just north of I-80′s Stockton exit. The Iowa State Patrol says 49-year-old ...