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Web posted
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Settlement reached in wrongful-death suit
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
A proposed settlement has been entered into in the death of a 16-year-old Arkansas City girl who died after she was struck by a car in March 2006.
The $50,000 settlement agreement was entered into by an attorney representing the Ashley Drum Estate.
A hearing on the proposed settlement will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Cowley County District Court in Winfield.
An amended petition filed Friday by Wichita attorney Fred Johnson states that the Ashley Drum Estate "agrees to settle its claims for personal injuries, including pain and suffering" resulting from the March 11, 2006, accident.
According to police, Ashley Drum was critically injured when she was struck by a vehicle at about midnight that Saturday night. She later died at a Wichita hospital.
The driver of the vehicle that struck Drum was Jason Mills, police said. It was about midnight when the accident occurred. Drum was walking along Mill Road with two male juveniles.
A petition filed Feb. 15 in the district court states that Mills crossed railroad tracks and accelerated his vehicle down M. Street. Mills was not paying proper attention and failed to notice Drum walking across the road in front of him, the petition states.
In the petition, Mills is accused of "negligent and careless" acts, by driving at an speed greater than reasonable and prudent under the conditions; and driving in "willful and wanton disregard for the safety of the plaintiff," thus constituting reckless driving.
Dan Givens, Arkansas City police chief at the time of the accident, said that the accident was a tragedy, according to a Traveler report that appeared March 16, 2006.
"It was no fault of the driver," Givens said. "There is nothing he could have done differently to avoid the accident. It was just a tragic accident."
Police said that a determination of speed was made showing the driver was traveling about 25 to 30 miles per hour -- the speed he reported.
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