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Tort claims seek $40 million over bus stop

Girl was killed, teen lost leg after hit by cars at stop for Battle Ground schools

By Jessica Prokop, Columbian Local News Editor
Published: June 26, 2017, 7:41pm
2 Photos
Elizabeth Smith, 11, was killed by a minivan while she was walking to a school bus stop in Battle Ground.
Elizabeth Smith, 11, was killed by a minivan while she was walking to a school bus stop in Battle Ground. (The Columbian files) Photo Gallery

Two tort claims are seeking $20 million each from Battle Ground Public Schools and Clark County Public Works after two children were struck near a school bus stop on Northeast 82nd Avenue in Battle Ground — costing one child her life and the other his right leg.

Vancouver attorney Scott Edwards filed the tort claims on behalf of Battle Ground’s Justin Carey, 20, and Elizabeth Smith, who was 11 years old when she was killed.

The tort claims, which were first filed with the school district May 23, are typically an indication of an intent to sue. They were filed with the county June 6. It was not immediately known if other parties were served with the tort claims.

Each tort claim alleges that the school bus stop at the corner of Northeast 289th Street and 82nd Avenue was placed in an “unreasonably dangerous location, and passing motorists were not properly warned or advised of the bus stop.” The posted speed limit in that area is 50 mph, the tort claims say.

“This is a dangerous place to put a bus stop. We know for a fact that one child was permanently injured here, and another was killed. There is a limited sight line, vehicles traveling at high rates of speed and almost no shoulder,” Edwards said in an email. ”

All of those factors and a lack of “proper signage” created the dangerous conditions for Carey, Smith and other students who wait for the school bus, the tort claims state.

“We are presently trying to locate others who have been hurt or had near-misses at this intersection — whether children or not. We suspect there are others,” Edwards said.

Elizabeth was struck and killed by a minivan Oct. 19 while walking the 1,500 feet from her house to wait for the school bus. She and her younger sister — students at Daybreak Primary/Middle School — were playing and jumping around as they walked, their father, Anthony Smith, previously told The Columbian, and Elizabeth went out into the road a bit. A silver minivan traveling south on 82nd Avenue struck Elizabeth, throwing her into the ditch, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities at the time said the driver, Dennis Gene Lemke, then 76 of La Center, was cooperating with the investigation.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said Monday that the investigation was later sent to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review and, to date, no criminal charges have been brought against Lemke. It’s typical for crashes involving a fatality or serious injury to be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney’s office, he said.

On the morning of June 10, 2013, Carey, then 16, was waiting at the school bus stop when a Nissan Altima traveling south veered off the road and struck him. Carey was thrown more than 80 feet and landed in some nearby bushes. The impact fractured both of his legs and severed an artery in his right leg. His injuries later led to the amputation of his lower right leg.

The driver, Shaun Johnson, had told deputies that she dropped a lit cigarette on the floor of her car and bent down to retrieve it when she went off the road. She said she didn’t know that she hit anyone. Because Carey was concealed by the bushes, he wasn’t found until more than 90 minutes later. A tow truck driver heard his faint cries for help.

In February, a Clark County Superior Court jury, for a second time, found that Johnson, 50, was under the influence of methamphetamine when she struck Carey. She was sentenced to three years in prison.

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