KENNEWICK — Bethany S. Kangiser was driving to work on the Hanford site in 2019, when a collision with a Benton County sheriff’s deputy flipped her life upside down.
Once a successful chemical engineer, the 41-year-old has spent the past four years trying to recover from a brain injury that left her with memory problems, unable to focus and out of work, her attorney Jay Flynn told the Tri-City Herald.
A Benton County jury on Thursday found her injuries are going cost her $1.6 million and she deserves another $480,000 for her pain and suffering.
The verdict followed an eight-day trial just on her injuries and the expected costs, according to court documents.
“She feels like (the verdict) validates her injury. She’s very grateful to the jury,” Flynn told the Herald. “I was disappointed that we had to take the case to trial, but it gives me great faith in the jury system.”
Before the trial, the county admitted that Deputy Mike McDermott, who still works for the department, was negligent when he made the U-turn into the side of her car.
It remains unclear if the county will attempt to appeal the verdict on what Kangiser is owed.
Benton County’s attorney, Mark Dynan, could not be reached by phone or email about the verdict.
Hanford site crash
It’s been four years since the dramatic crash on Hanford Route 4, a two-lane road on the nuclear reservation that’s restricted to Hanford site employees. Benton County is under contract as the law enforcement agency to patrol roads on the site.
Kangiser, a Bechtel chemical engineer at the time, was heading into the office on Feb. 5, 2019, to drop off her final papers before taking a promotion in Kentucky. The family was packed and ready to move, and her husband and three children were waiting for her return.
Deputy McDermott was driving ahead of her on Route 4 and pulled off to the right shoulder. As Kangiser drove past him on the left, he made a U-turn, slamming into the side of her car.
The T-bone crash totaled both cars and sent both Kangiser and the deputy to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
While McDermott was able to return to work about a month later, the crash left Kangiser with a traumatic brain injury, Flynn said.
With brain injuries, it’s hard to tell the extent of how badly someone is hurt, said Flynn.
Kangiser was having difficulty thinking clearly and was troubled by bright lights and loud sounds. The crash also left her anxious to drive again.
She hoped that her condition would improve quickly, but months of recovery turned into years.
Her family had to cancel plans to move to Kentucky. And, eventually, they moved to Oregon to be near where she was undergoing treatment.
Even after four years of treatment, she couldn’t return to work for Bechtel and isn’t able to do many of things she did before the crash.
County lawsuit
Kangiser filed a claim with the county’s insurance company two years after the crash. And when that wasn’t settled, she filed a lawsuit.
The county’s attorneys initially attempted to argue that McDermott was not negligent for the crash. Then in February, they admitted liability, but disputed whether she had suffered a traumatic brain injury, Flynn said.
It went to trial in March to determine how much the county should pay. Both sides presented experts, and the deputy and Kangiser testified.
Flynn said he was disappointed that the case needed to go that far. “I felt like it was a lot of fighting,” he said.
McDermott has continued to work at the sheriff’s office, and was involved in another crash roughly a month after hitting Kangiser’s car. But it’s unclear who was found to be at fault in that crash.
He had his lights and sirens on when he collided with a Lexus SUV at the intersection at Columbia Center Boulevard and Canal Drive. He was headed to help other deputies in Benton City.
McDermott and the two people in the Lexus were treated at Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick for minor injuries, according to reports at the time.
