TEXARKANA -- A federal judge in Texarkana this month dismissed a wrongful-death suit filed on behalf of the widow of a man who was killed when his car was struck as it drove in a funeral procession in Miller County in 2018.
Linda Watson and her husband, 81-year-old Royce Sidney Watson, were among a line of cars traveling from a funeral in Nash, Texas, to a graveside service in Texarkana, Ark., on April 16, 2018, according to court records. Up until the group reached the state line, the cars were escorted by a Texarkana, Texas, officer.
"After crossing into Arkansas, there was no Arkansas police escort present, so the funeral director led the procession in a vehicle equipped with activated 'white on blue' colored strobe lights and emergency flashers. Two other vehicles provided by the funeral home were also part of the procession and were equipped with the same colored strobe lights and emergency flashers," U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey's opinion states.
As the Watsons' car traveled in the procession, it proceeded on Old Post Road through an intersection with North Rondo Road.
"A stop sign governs eastbound traffic on Old Post Road. No stop sign governs free-flowing, southbound traffic on North Rondo Road," the opinion states.
Traveling along the highway with no stop sign was Jason Ray Alexander in a Southwest Arkansas Electrical Cooperative truck. The Watsons' car didn't stop at the stop sign and Alexander's truck struck it in the intersection. Linda and Royce Watson were both taken by ambulance to a Texarkana hospital, where Royce Watson was pronounced dead.
In November 2018, Linda Watson individually and David Watson, as administrator of Royce Watson's estate, filed suit against Alexander and his employer for wrongful death. Hickey sided with the defense and granted a motion putting an end to the case.
Hickey's opinion notes Arkansas law gives a funeral procession right-of-way but requires it be led by an escort vehicle with "flashing, rotating, or oscillating purple lights," unlike the "whitish blue" strobe lights on the funeral director's car. Because Hickey found the lights used to identify the line of cars as a funeral procession didn't comport with the law, she found the Watsons weren't traveling as part of a funeral procession and should have stopped at the stop sign.
NW News on 01/26/2020