Turnpike commission sues driver

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Turnpike Commission has sued a Richmond, Va., man, saying his driver’s-side car-trailer door swung open and hit a toll booth, seriously injuring the toll collector inside, while the man accelerated to exit the turnpike’s North Jackson toll plaza.

In the lawsuit filed against Paul M. Prideaux, the self-insured commission said it spent more than $30,893 for medical treatment and compensation of the toll collector, Harold Adams of Youngstown, after the Sept. 27, 2009, accident.

The suit, which demands a jury trial, alleges Prideaux “negligently maintained his vehicle and trailer by allowing an unsafe condition.”

Prideaux could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Jo Ann F. Wasil, a staff attorney at the toll road’s Berea headquarters.