Blog Post

Garbage Firm to Pay Compensation in Pedestrian Accident Case


June 03, 2008
Topic: Pedestrian Accidents

The family of a cafeteria employee, who was killed when a waste truck backed up over her, has been awarded a $650,000 wrongful death settlement.

Mary Danielson of Waukegan was employed at the cafeteria of the Daniel Webster Junior High School, where she walked every day to work. On that particular day, March 24, 2004, 59-year-old Danielson was crossing the road at Westmoreland. There was nothing to warn her about what was to come. A truck belonging to the Onyx Waste Services was backing up on the road and struck the woman. She died at the scene. The Lake County Coroner's Office report concluded that she died of multiple injuries in a traumatic pedestrian accident.

The truck was being driven by 45-year-old Alonzo Abron, who fled from the scene after the accident. He was found later, and was charged with leaving the scene of the pedestrian accident.

Investigations after the accident revealed that the truck had backed up at least 350 feet before hitting Danielson, who was walking by the curb. Apparently the driver couldn't really explain how it was possible that he could have backed up 350 feet, and not seen the woman walking behind the truck. His lawyers initially tried to blame the weather for his negligence in seeing the woman, but now a jury has awarded Mary's family a $650,000 compensation amount.

This is just one more example of the callous disregard that pedestrians seem to experience every day. There is nothing to suggest that Mary Danielson was doing anything wrong on the day of the pedestrian accident. She was going to school, where she had worked hard for many years, and on that day, was minding her own business, walking to school as she did every day. She wasn't jaywalking, or doing anything else illegal. She behaved, in other words, like a law-abiding citizen would. Unlike Abron, who behaved in manner that was just the opposite. He backed up over the woman, killed her, and then, with no regard for her injuries, fled from the scene. Sadly, in these pedestrian accidents the pedestrians who, in many cases are blameless, are still the ones who end up paying with their lives or suffering massive and severe injuries.

From what Mary's family says about her, she was the rock of the family, and her death has left a deep void. Compensation by Onyx Waste Services is only fair and just, considering the severity of their loss.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of pedestrian accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.