A computer expert at the University of Minnesota Duluth was biking on the shoulder of a road in nearby Hermantown when a Chevy Tahoe SUV crossed over the centerline and into his path. The 44-year-old husband, father and avid outdoorsman died at the scene near the crossing of Lavaque and Morris Thomas roads. He was 44 years old and a highly respected director of technology at UMD’s Labovitz School of Business and Economics. The collision happened in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon.
The sudden loss was called a tragic accident by the deputy chief of police in Hermantown and it is not clear what — if any — criminal charges will be filed against the 71-year-old driver of the SUV. The driver passed field sobriety tests and cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation of the bicycle death. He is from Proctor, Minnesota.
“To have somebody lose their life and not have anybody held responsible… we’re looking at all angles to see what we can come up with,” Deputy Chief Shawn Padden told the Duluth newspaper.
Bicycle accident lawyers at our law firm conduct their own independent crash investigations in their review of possible negligence and wrongful death responsibility. Many fatal bike accidents are caused by inattentiveness by the vehicle driver. A question in this case would be: What was distracting the SUV driver when he violated traffic safety rules by crossing over the centerline? Wasn’t he looking where he was going?
“When tragedies like this strike, families deserve every consideration under the law,” said attorney Fred Pritzker, an avid cyclist whose national law practice is based in Minneapolis. “What really happened and how can we hold the responsible parties accountable?”
Fred has represented next of kin in fatal bicycle accidents, once winning a $2.5 million jury verdict for the family of a middle-aged mother who was run over on her bike by a semi-truck in greater Minnesota. He can be reached for a free case consultation online or by calling toll-free to his law firm, 1-888-377-8900.
