Daughter at fault in mother’s death, coroner says
A Fayette County coroner’s jury ruled Thursday that the daughter of a Scottdale woman was at fault in a traffic accident in which a motorcycle struck their car on Route 119 in Bullskin Township and claimed her mother’s life. The ruling came after an inquest into the May 26 death of Waneta Grimm, 78, of 601 Jennings St. Extension, who died from injuries she suffered when she was a passenger in a station wagon that her daughter Kimberly Grimm, 46, same address, was driving.
Grimm and Michael Bates Jr., 22, of Ruffsdale, who was driving the motorcycle, appeared at the inquest with their attorneys and testified about the accident.
State police trooper Thomas Stacy, who witnessed the accident while he had another vehicle pulled over along Route 119, also testified.
Grimm said she and her mother were on their way to Green Ridge Memorial Park to place flowers at her father’s grave when the accident took place.
She said she pulled out from Moyer Road and was crossing the four-lane highway on her way to the cemetery, which is across Route 119 from Moyer Road, but neither she nor her mother saw the motorcycle.
She said she looked both ways before proceeding through the intersection and her mother said the northbound lane was clear.
Neither she nor her mother was wearing a seat belt, said Grimm, who was represented by attorney James M. Fox.
Bates, who was represented by attorney Alan K. Berk, said he was traveling north at 45 mph and didn’t see the Grimms’ car until he was about 20 or 30 feet away.
“I had very little time to do anything,” said Bates, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
“I don’t think he had time to react,” Stacy said. “He just had no time.”
He said neither driver was cited, and neither drugs nor alcohol was a factor in the mishap.
He speculated that the glare from the setting sun at the time of the 8:15 p.m. accident might have affected visibility.
Stacy said that from the berm of the southbound lane, where he pulled over a vehicle, he saw the station wagon travel slowly across the four-lane highway and the bike traveling within the speed limit, he said.
“It’s one of those things. You can’t believe it’s happening at the time,” Stacy said.
He said the impact sent Bates into the air:
“He went straight up in the air and straight back down.”
Based on the way Grimm was driving, it was apparent that she did not see Bates, Stacy added.
“I remember saying, ‘no, no, no,'” just before the collision, he said.
After the accident, he went to the car and asked the driver if she was all right and she shook her head “no,” but he didn’t notice she had a passenger.
Kimberly Grimm suffered minor injuries.
Stacy said he then went to the motorcycle and noticed that someone was with Bates, so he returned to the car. He noticed the passenger was unconscious and he immediately began CPR.
Waneta Grimm was pronounced dead in Highlands Hospital at 8:54 p.m.
Stacy said the impact from the motorcycle pushed the passenger door about a foot to a foot and a half into the passenger compartment where she was seated.
Berk questioned Stacy about a part of his accident report that lists contributing actions.
Stacy said that part of the report is for the drivers’ insurance companies and the Department of Transportation to use in their review of the accident.
However, it indicates that Kimberly Grimm proceeded without clearance after a stop and that she might have been distracted, Stacy said.
The jury ruled that Bates was not responsible for the accident and recommended that PennDOT widen the area between the northbound and southbound lanes or make traffic from Moyer Road turn right onto Route 119.
Fayette County Coroner Phillip E. Reilly asked the jury forewoman if the panel assigned responsibility for the accident, and she said Grimm was responsible.
After the hearing, Fox explained that the accident was tragic and “no one suffered more than Kim.”