Roberts
Norris
WINFIELD -- A father is petitioning for an order to preserve evidence after his son was killed in a Nov. 23 collision with a tractor trailer.
James Richard Roberts died from injuries he sustained in a collision between a car he was a passenger in and a tractor trailer owned by Teton Transportation and operated by Breazeale W. Norris, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, according to a complaint filed Nov. 30 in Putnam Circuit Court.
The collision occurred on Interstate 64 at Exit 39 near Scott Depot, according to the suit.
Richard D. Roberts claims Teton Transportation has in its possession Norris' trip package, which includes fuel receipts, toll receipts, waybills, bills of lading and other documents specifically relating to the trip Norris was engaged in at the time of the accident.
Mr. Roberts claims the company also has the driver qualification package for Norris, which contains material information on the driver's history and qualifications to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce.
According to the suit, the truck tractor unit that was driven by Norris at the time of the accident is presently being stored at Hurricane Wrecker Service and Teton Transportation has made repeated requests to the company to "come and get the unit" for purposes of transporting it to some other undisclosed location.
Roberts claims an inspection of the nature and extent of the damage on the unit is essential to his claims because the unit is equipped with an event data recorder similar to an airline black box.
Roberts claims if the respondents are given access to several items, including trip packages, driver's qualification package, the truck tractor unit, GPS information and a data recorder similar to an airline "black box," and allowed to destroy or conceal the items, his rights will be severely prejudiced.
Roberts is being represented by Harvey D. Peyton and Thomas H. Peyton of the Peyton Law Firm.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Phillip M. Stowers.
Putnam Circuit Court case number: 09-C-516