Jury finds officer, trucker equally at fault for fatal crash
An El Paso jury today found a police officer and a trucker equally to blame for a crash that killed the officer.
A jury form shows $2.285 million in damages was suffered by El Paso police officer Angel Garcia and his family. The jury form instructs jurors not reduce the amount it awards because of Garcia’s negligence, staying instead that the actual recovery will be determined by the court when it applies the law to the answers on the form.
KVIA has placed calls to the court and attorneys in the case, seeking to clarify the actual amount Garcia’s family has been awarded. No one connected with the case was willing to speak on the record about the verdict. Section 33.012(a) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code states that “The court shall reduce the amount of damages … by a percentage equal to the claimant’s percentage of responsibility.”
At the end of the 13-page jury document, a box was checked indicating that the verdict was not unanimous, but that at least ten of the twelve jurors agreed with it.
Officer Garcia was killed three years ago when he walked into traffic on I-10 near Bassett Place to remove a ladder from the freeway. His family is suing truck driver Harvey Hall and the company he worked for, Old Dominion Trucking Lines, alleging Hall is to blame for causing the chain reaction crash that left Garcia dead.
Officer Garcia’s family was seeking $30 million.
Last week, Hall took the stand and he was very emotional. He testified that when he came up over the Hawkins overpass, the sun blinded him and he crashed into the vehicles in front of him. Other testimony showed that the raised trunk of Garcia’s patrol car may have obscured Hall’s view of the flashing light bar atop the car.
During closing arguments, the defense told the jury that Hall did not expect to see stopped cars on the freeway and he couldn’t avoid hitting them. Hall’s attorney also said there’s no evidence showing a slower speed would have prevented the crash. The plaintiff mostly focused on Officer Garcia’s family and the financial help he used to give them.
