Texas Station Sued and Settles with Man that Was hit by News Car
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Back in September, FTVLive told you that KCBD (Lubbock) Reporter Patricia Villacin was charged with hit and run after cops said she ran over a guy and then drove away.
The guy that was hit by the news car filed a lawsuit this week against the Raycom owned station.
It appears that the station decided to settle before the lawsuit every got to court. KCBD GM Dan Jackson, said the lawsuit had been settled with a “confidentiality agreement.”
In the initial lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday, Taylor Hammond of Lubbock sued KCBD; its owner, Raycom Media Inc.; and former KCBD employee Patricia Villacin for $1 million or more.
Hammond claimed he was legally walking in a crosswalk when Villacin hit him with a company vehicle. Prior to the crash, Hammond claimed, Villacin was talking on her cellphone while stopped at a red light at the intersection of the access road and Slide Road.
“Villacin failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to yield the right of way as she took off suddenly at a high rate of speed,” striking Hammond in the crosswalk, the lawsuit states. “Villacin, with knowledge that she had struck a pedestrian, then fled the scene of the accident and returned the vehicle to the care and custody of her employers at the KCBD TV station parking facility.”
The lawsuit also claimed that “despite the plain and obvious damage to the vehicle and other information suggesting its involvement in a serious accident,” Raycom Media Inc. failed to inform authorities about the accident in a timely manner. The lawsuit also claimed the station did not acknowledge its involvement, nor did it preserve the evidence.
As a result of being struck, Hammond “sustained and suffered severe personal injuries to his head, arms, legs, torso, neck and back,” the lawsuit states.
Villacin is no longer employed by KCBD.
H/T Lubbock Online
