Suit Claims Negligence in Kansas City, MO, Fire Apparatus Accident
By Ilana Arougheti
Source The Kansas City Star
A Kansas City man filed a lawsuit this week against a member of the Kansas City Fire Department, alleging that the firefighter hit his car while driving a fire truck in south Kansas City in January, 2024.
The alleged collision took place on January 17, 2024, around 5 p.m. in the Willow Creek neighborhood of Kansas City, according to court documents. Louis Davis, 42, alleges that he was driving a Chevrolet Malibu in the right lane of Holmes Road while Blayne Theunissen, 32, was driving a fire truck in the left lane.
As both vehicles approached 99th Street, Theunissen allegedly tried to make a right turn from the left lane and instead hit Davis’ vehicle.
Davis’ lawsuit, which also names the city of Kansas City as a defendant, notes that a police report filed after the accident describes Theunissen as making an “improper lane change” at the time.
The lawsuit alleges that Theunissen was negligent when he allegedly hit Davis’ car, and that Theunissen never signaled Davis or sounded his horn.
No injuries were reported in the collision, according to the lawsuit. Davis is seeking a jury trial.
The Kansas City Fire Department declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Theunissen was convicted of a similar traffic offense in 2016, having pleaded guilty to failing to yield to an approaching vehicle while turning, according to court records.
Theunissen also previously pleaded guilty to animal abandonment in 2018 after allegedly leaving his chocolate Lab alone in a cage in his apartment when he was evicted in 2017. After the dog was found dead, Theunissen was placed on probation for two years.
Kansas City fire trucks have been involved in multiple traffic accidents in the past couple of years, at least one of which proved fatal. In December 2021, then-KCFD firefighter Dominic Biscari hit and killed three people after running a red light behind the wheel of a KCFD fire truck in Westport.
Biscari was convicted on three counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2023. Earlier that year, a Kansas City fire truck collided with a car while responding to a false alarm in the Northland in June, leaving a 79-year-old woman with permanent disabilities and injuring four others.
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