Protestors gather at MoDOT headquarters following fatal crash in St. Louis County
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
People protested in front of MODOT's headquarters in Jefferson City Friday after two on-duty employees and an unborn baby died in a crash last November in St.Louis County.
Michael Brown, who survived the crash, James Brooks, Kaitlyn Anderson, were working on Telegraph Road above I-255 in St.Louis County.
As the three were working on the highway, a driver crashed through their work zone, injuring Brown and killing Brooks and Anderson, who was pregnant at the time with her unborn son Jaxx Jarvis.
At least 25 people stood in front of the headquarters chanting, asking MoDOT why the workers weren't provided the proper safety equipment when they were working.
Brown said when crews work on the streets they are supposed to have protective vehicles such as a truck-mounted attenuator (TMA) when they are working in a lane but they didn't have one on Nov. 18 when the crash took place.
Anderson's aunt Tabatha Moore says more training and safety rules will make a difference.
"Best case scenario, we lose no more MoDOT workers. Worst-case scenario, they do nothing and let workers slip through the cracks again and they just keep piling up names on that MoDOT memorial just down the way here," Moore said.
Brown says he usually doesn't work with the crews on the roads but instead operates the striping machine that is used to paint the roads. Brown said he suffered severe injuries, with a compound fracture to the left leg, a broken wrist, a broken left clavicle, three broken ribs and a sub hematoma causing traumatic brain injury.
Brown said he still doesn't remember anything from the accident.
"From what I've been told, I had to be told multiple times what happened to me while I was in the hospital. I had to be told like every day for weeks about what happened and while I was there," Brown said
Moore said she's also reached out to lawmakers to get them involved.
A Missouri state senator has sponsored senate bill 1188 which attempt to hold organizations more accountable for employee deaths and injuries. The bill would give $15,000 instead of $5,000 to those that have to pay for burial expenses and death benefits to employees would increase at least 25 percent but no more than 50 in the case where an employee is injured due to the business not complying with set safety standards.
According to a court doc, the driver's insurance policy through Allstate is offering only $50,000 dollars. The company wants the families to split the $50,000 dollars among themselves however, each family would need to make a claim.
Moore says she wants MoDOT to know one thing.
"What we really would like MoDOT to know is that they took incredibly special people from us. More than a daughter, more than a niece, more than a grand nephew. These are human begins, lives that matter, people who love them are left behind completely devastated," Moore said.
According to MoDOT's virtual memorial, 138 people have died on duty since 1932. ABC 17 News reached out to MoDOT for comment, however, they wouldn't speak due to a pending lawsuit.
