The family of a New Jersey high school cheerleader who was seriously injured in a hit-and-run earlier this year is holding the Newark City Board of Education at fault, as the wheelchair-bound victim still struggles to recover from the traumatic incident. is appealing.
According to the complaint, Kiara Jones, 19, a senior at Arts High School, was getting off a bus after a cheerleading competition in South Jersey on Feb. 4 when she arrived at Martin Luther King Boulevard. A crazy driver crashed into her.
She was hospitalized and in critical condition for several weeks, unable to speak or walk due to a traumatic brain injury. According to people.
Months later, she is still struggling to recover, but her family's lawyer, James Lynch, said her injuries were “severe and permanent.”
On Monday, lawyers announced a lawsuit naming the Newark Board of Education and others as defendants and seeking unspecified damages to offset rising legal costs.
The lawsuit also names a bus driver who allegedly failed to extend the stop sign mechanism on his vehicle.
“There are many people who are responsible for this truly heartbreaking tragedy,” Lynch said in a press release accompanying the lawsuit.
“Both drivers were reckless in the operation of their vehicles, and the High School of the Arts and the Newark Board of Education were grossly negligent in failing to properly enforce and supervise the necessary safety procedures for bus disembarkation. .”
The boy's mother, Tomeika Jones, told News 12 New Jersey in March that she missed talking to her daughter.
“We are mourning the loss of someone who once was,” Jones said. “It was a challenge.
“I never imagined anything like this,” she continued. “We are heartbroken.”
Despite Sunday night's tragic accident, the suspect, Miaja Barton, 33, continued driving, according to People magazine.
Police arrested her about a month later and charged her with a series of crimes, including leaving the scene of an accident with serious injury and assault with a motor vehicle, the report said.
