Court: NJ State Not Responsible for Fatal Accident

One brother was killed, the other injured

State transportation officials who declined to fund a new pedestrian walkway over a southern New Jersey highway cannot be held responsible for a 2003 accident that killed a boy and injured his younger brother, a state appellate court has ruled.

The two-judge panel rejected a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the boys' mother.

She claimed the officials were negligent for not rebuilding the walkway above Route 38 in Cherry Hill after a garbage truck brought it down in 1999.

In their ruling, the judges found the defendants had legal immunity.

The judges also found the 12- and 13-year-old boys - who didn't cross at a light and were hit by a vehicle as they tried to run across the busy six-lane highway - were responsible for the accident.


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Copyright AP - Associated Press
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