Families file wrongful death lawsuit in deadly crash at downstate Illinois after-school camp
The families of four children and a teenager killed in a crash when a woman drove into an after-school program in downstate Illinois have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver and the day camp.
The lawsuit filed in Sangamon claims the YNOT after-school camp in Chatham was built in violation of safety codes prohibiting permanent youth camps from being located within 100 feet of a highway. The lawsuit also claims the facility did not have adequate measures to prevent a vehicle from striking the building, such as bollards, poles, wheel guards, or bumper guards.
According to the lawsuit, the building had four concrete bollards near the front entrance and the loading dock, but "the areas of the facility where children were routinely present was left unprotected."
The lawsuit also accuses the driver, Marianne Akers, of negligence for failing to stop her Jeep in time to avoid hitting the building.
"No family should ever have to endure the unimaginable loss of a child. Kathryn, Alma, Bradley, Ainsley and Rylee had their whole lives ahead of them," said the families' attorney, Lance Northcutt.
Sangamon County prosecutors did not seek any criminal charges against Akers. Illinois State Police have said toxicology tests found no traces of alcohol or drugs in her system.
Akers' attorney has said she suffered a seizure before the crash.
"It rendered her complete and utterly incapacitated at the time, and as a result of that seizure, she has no recollection of what occurred," attorney W. Scott Hanken said days after the crash.
Hanken said his client has no history of seizures.
The crash happened around 3:20 p.m. on April 28 at YNOT Outdoors Summer and After School Camp, when Akers' car left the road, traveled through a field and then plowed into the east side of the building, striking several people outside before driving through it and striking many inside. The vehicle eventually broke through the opposite side of the building and came to a stop.
Four victims died on the day of the crash: Ainsley Johnson, 8, of Chatham; Kathryn Corley, 7, of Chatham; Alma Buhnerkempe, 7, of Chatham; and Riley Britton, 18, of Springfield. A fifth victim, 8-year-old Bradley Lund, died weeks later.
Five other children were injured.
