By Andrew Clevenger
Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
Copyright 2007 Charleston Newspapers
The husband of a Kanawha County paramedic killed in a head-on collision in Boone County in January has sued the other driver in the crash.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Kanawha Circuit Court, Gary Davis alleges a speeding woman on her way to get methadone at a clinic in Charleston crossed the center line on W.Va. 3 in Racine and hit a pickup truck driven by Davis’ 30-year-old wife.
Tennille Annette Davis, a seven-year veteran of the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority, was on her way to teach an Emergency Medical Technician class in Boone County on Jan. 13 when her pickup truck was struck. She died at CAMC General Hospital the following day.
The suit names Boone County resident Deborah Ann Baber as the driver of the 2005 Ford Explorer involved in the accident and Shirley Bowling, also of Boone County, as the vehicle’s owner.
The suit contends that Baber was reckless and negligent in driving with a suspended license as she hurried to the Charleston Treatment Center on Greenbrier Street.
“Baber was traveling at a high rate of speed to the Charleston Treatment Center, Inc. ... due to [its] system of distributing Methadone on a first come, first served basis to drug addicts, including ... Baber,” the complaint reads.
David Sims, one of Davis’ lawyers, said his client was also looking into a suit against the center.
“We have put them on notice of a claim,” Sims said.
Kent Carper, who also represents Davis in the lawsuit, said the bill providing $50,000 in death benefits to firefighters and other emergency workers killed in the line of duty signed Wednesday by Gov. Joe Manchin was retroactive to the first of the year and should cover Tennille Davis.
“She’s a good example of someone who did everything right,” Carper said. “With two little kids, [Davis’ family] will need everything they can get.”
Davis and her husband, who is also a Kanawha County paramedic, had two children, Madeline, 5, and Cayden, 3.
An attempt to reach Baber and Bowling’s lawyer late Wednesday was unsuccessful.
The suit, which was assigned to Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker, seeks unspecified compensatory damages.