A Jefferson City man has sued Jefferson City in Cole County Circuit Court after he was involved in a crash with a city-owned vehicle.
The suit, filed by Roger Whittler, names the city and Shawn Dumsday as defendants. Dumsday is a member of the police force, department officials confirmed, but the police department is not mentioned in the suit.
Whittler was a passenger in a vehicle stopped at a red light April 8, 2015, in the northbound lane of Madison Street, near where Madison intersects East Dunklin Street, according to the suit.
Dumsday was operating a city vehicle in a private driveway/parking lot and attempting to back out of that area into the northbound lane of Madison, the suit alleges. Wittler’s attorney, Rod Chapel, claims that caused a collision with the vehicle in which his client was riding.
The lawsuit claims Dumsday’s “negligence” left Whittler with injuries to his back as well as anxiety and emotional distress. Whittler “will suffer them in the future — said injuries, pain and damages being permanent, disabling and progressive,” Chapel added, also noting Whittler had lost fringe benefits as well as his enjoyment of life due to his injuries.
Chapel states in the lawsuit that Dumsday owed Whittler “a duty to operate his vehicle with the highest degree of care, yet failed to do so and was therefore negligent, reckless and careless in several respects including failing to yield the right-of-way and driving at an excessive speed under the circumstances.
In the lawsuit, Chapel says the city owed Whittler and the general public a duty to “diligently and adequately train employees regarding their driving abilities and instruct Dumsday on safe driving” and the city failed to properly evaluate, supervise and/or dismiss Dumsday following this incident.
The case has been assigned to Cole County Judge Jon Beetem. Chapel is asking the judge Whittler be awarded fair and reasonable damages in excess of $25,000.