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The family of a US police officer who died in a road traffic accident here along with his parents and brother has settled for €310,000 a High Court action over his death.
The American visitors, in Ireland for a funeral, were in a hire car and a U-turn was being attempted on the main Rosslare to Waterford Road outside New Ross, Co Wexford, when the accident happened seven years ago.
Senior Counsel John Kilfeather instructed by Caroline McLaughlin solicitor told the High Court it was a very tragic accident and 49-year-old Stephen Alexander, a father of two, was a decorated police officer operating out of the Bolingbrook Police Department which is situated in a southwestern suburb of Chicago.
The proceedings, he said, were over the death of Mr Stephen Alexander and also for nervous shock.
Mr Alexander’s father, Douglas Alexander Snr (75), his mother Lily Alexander (75), and brother Douglas Alexander Jnr (52), also from Chicago, all died in the collision with an articulated lorry on the N25 on December 4, 2017.
(Left to right) Doug Alexander Snr, Lily Ryan-Alexander, Doug Jnr and Stephen Alexander who died while attempting to do a U-turn on a busy national road.
The High Court proceedings were brought by Mr Stephen Alexander’s widow, Lynn Alexander of Lemont, Illinois in the United States against car rental company Executive Trust Ltd with registered offices at Northwood Business Park, Northwood, Santry, Co Dublin.
The company owned the car in which Mr Stephen Alexander was travelling as a passenger and which was driven by his brother Douglas Alexander Jnr at the time of the accident. The settlement is without an admission of liability.
In the proceedings, it was claimed that the car crossed or attempted to cross the path of an oncoming vehicle, causing the collision and that a dangerous manoeuvre had allegedly been executed on the public roadway.
It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to wait until traffic had passed in safety before crossing or attempting to cross the path of traffic.
Inquest
An inquest in 2019 held into the death of the four Americans heard the group had travelled from the United States to attend the funeral of Lily’s sister, Winifred, at Cushinstown, outside New Ross and less than 1km from the scene of the accident.
A garda gave evidence that the Alexanders had flown over from Chicago for the funeral, and they had been travelling in convoy behind relatives of theirs when the crash occurred.
The garda said both cars were doing a U-turn on the road and that while one of the cars completed the manoeuvre, the car being driven by Douglas Alexander Jnr was hit by an articulated truck while attempting the same move.
All four died at the scene after their car became trapped underneath the lorry, which had jack-knifed as it attempted to avoid them.
The lorry driver who was driving 10km under the speed limit said he saw a car shooting across from the left-hand side maybe 50 metres in front of him, and then a second car came out, he slammed on the brakes but the collision happened.
The coroner noted the driver of the car would have been at a major disadvantage having only arrived from the States a few hours previously and would not have had much rest.
The coroner said that being used to driving on the other side of the road, he may have been expecting traffic coming from the left rather than from the right, and that the driver of the lorry had done nothing wrong.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death in each case.
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