Dana Rieck
ST. LOUIS COUNTY -- A lawsuit filed this week blames a flawed load of lumber and an improperly mounted forklift for a fiery crash in May that killed a mother and her two young daughters on the first day of summer break.
The suit describes details of the crash that were not previously released, including the chaotic scene of bystanders trying to rescue 8-year-old Kenzi Brooks, who was stuck in the car as it went up in flames.
The crash happened at about 7:30 a.m. May 24. The girls' mother, Michelle Yaeger, was driving them in a 1998 GMC Yukon along the ramp connecting northbound Interstate 55 to Interstate 270 in St. Louis County.
As traffic stopped ahead of her, the lawsuit says, she attempted to pull into the median between the interstate and the off-ramp to avoid colliding with the car in front of her.
Instead, she crashed into the back of a truck carrying lumber, which had pulled over into the same median after its driver thought his load was unsecure, the suit says.
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She and Kenzi died at the scene.
"Their bodies were pinned in the 1998 GMC Yukon in such a way that they had to be extracted from the vehicle after the vehicle was towed away from the scene of the collision," the lawsuit says.
Kenzi's 10-year-old sister, Natalie Brooks, died at a hospital.
Initial reporting said Natalie was not wearing a seatbelt. Monday's lawsuit says Natalie and Kenzi were both properly restrained.
The family lived in the Lemay area of St. Louis County.
Monday's suit was filed by Yaeger's surviving son, Brendan Yaeger, and the girls' father, Kenneth Brooks. He and Yaeger were no longer in a relationship when the crash happened.
They sued the lumber truck driver, David Frazier, and several companies: Frazier's employer, Wil-Sites Truck Lines; HIAB USA, Inc., which manufactures and sells certain trailer-mounted forklifts and mounting systems under the name Moffett; and 84 Lumber Company, which loaded the lumber that was on the truck's trailer.
Brooks and Brendan Yaeger's attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did representatives of the three companies.
The 39-page suit says the lumber was not secured correctly on the truck bed; the forklift was improperly mounted to the back of the bed; and the driver had not correctly marked the back of the truck with a flag.
That left the forklift hanging over the back of the truck bed, the suit describes, exposing the fuel filter and fuel lines to "rupturing and spilling fuel when the subject forklift is involved in a rear impact collision."
When Yaeger's Yukon hit the back of the truck, the forklift crashed into the Yukon's hood, windshield and dashboard, pinning Yaeger and Kenzi between their respective seats and the front dashboard.
Then the forklift erupted in flames and consumed the Yukon, the suit says.
Multiple bystanders tried to help, the suit says. Some talked to Kenzi. Others tried to get Yaeger and Kenzi out of the SUV. One bystander even used a chain and his vehicle to separate the Yukon and the forklift. But the Yukon kept burning.
The suit blames the lumber company for not securing the load of wood properly, which caused Frazier to pull over in the first place. It also noted Frazier broke state law by driving in the left lane of the off-ramp; trucks that weigh more than 48,000 pounds are prohibited from driving in the left lanes of highways.
The suit also says the forklift was protruding more than 6 feet off the end of the truck, but Missouri law allows an overhang maximum of 4 feet.
The suit says the deaths could have been avoided.
"Alternative designs were and are both technologically and economically feasible," the lawsuit says, "that would have prevented the injuries suffered by decedents by either changing the location where the subject forklift was transported, improving the rear structure of the subject forklift, or improving the fuel tank, fuel filter, and fuel lines of the subject forklift."
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