The family of R&B singer Angie Stone has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a trucking company and others involved in the deadly Sprinter van crash that killed Stone in March while returning to Atlanta from an Alabama show.
Stone’s family is suing multiple companies and people involved in the deadly crash
According to The Associated Press, Stone’s two children, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, along with Sheila Hopkins, one of the survivors of the crash, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a Georgia state court in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville.
They are suing the van driver, the truck driver, the man and the companies that owned the van, the trucking company, and the maker of the 18-wheel truck that slammed into the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.
In the suit, the plaintiffs argue that the driver lost control of the van, and when he tried to steer it back onto the highway, it flipped over with Stone, 63, her bandmates and her entourage inside. The “Wish I Didn’t Love You” singer, along with other passengers, survived the initial early hours wreck, and bystanders pulled over and helped five of the nine passengers crawl out, per the AP.
The plaintiffs believe the crash could have been prevented if the truck’s collision avoidance system had not malfunctioned
When Stone was trying to escape, the 18-wheeler truck carrying sugar slammed into the Sprinter van, according to the legal complaint. Stone was immediately ejected from the van due to the impact and was pinned underneath, where she later died. Hopkins was also still inside and sustained injuries from the accident.
Hopkins and Stone’s children emphasized in the suit that the truck’s collision avoidance system had failed to detect the van, which was lying stationary in the middle of the interstate. They also claim the truck driver was listening to headphones and not paying attention, nor did he hit the brakes before slamming into the van at 70 mph, the AP reported.
Blavity reported that a week before the crash, Stone shared with her Instagram followers that she would perform at the CIAA basketball tournament in Baltimore that Saturday. However, her daughter had to break the heartbreaking news that morning about her mother’s passing.
Stone was a legendary R&B soul singer-songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer. She first launched her career in 1979 with The Sequence, the first all-female hip-hop group, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. She went on to create classic hits both as a member of the group and as a solo artist.
