Edward Schmidt, filed the lawsuit earlier this month on January 21, against the driver that hit his wife’s vehicle last summer and is seeking “$50,000 for each of the deaths.” At the moment, bond for the driver, “25-year-old Sean Woulfe, who pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of reckless homicide in August, was reduced from $1 million to $250,000 during a court appearance.” He managed to post bond that same day. But what happened last summer? How did the crash occur?
Months after a tragic car accident claimed the lives of a pregnant mother and her three young children, the husband and father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The husband, Edward Schmidt, filed the lawsuit earlier this month on January 21, against the driver that hit his wife’s vehicle last summer and is seeking “$50,000 for each of the deaths.” At the moment, bond for the driver, “25-year-old Sean Woulfe, who pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of reckless homicide in August, was reduced from $1 million to $250,000 during a court appearance.” He managed to post bond that same day. But what happened last summer? How did the crash occur?
According to the lawsuit, Lindsey Schmidt was driving her children in their 2014 Subaru Outback on July 24 when the vehicle was “struck by Woulfe’s 2002 Chevrolet S10 pickup at 8:38 a.m. in unincorporated Beecher.” The accident occurred because Woulfe, who was heading “east on Corning Road…failed to stop at a stop sign at Yates Avenue.” The pickup struck on the driver’s side of Schmidt’s vehicle, causing it to “roll over into a field.”
Soon after the accident, felony charges were brought against Woulfe, alleging he was “speeding in excess of 20 mph over the 55 mph limit when he ran a stop sign, causing the crash that killed Schmidt, 29, and her sons Caleb, 1; Weston, 4; and Owen, 6, all of Beecher.” She was also “pregnant at the time of her death, and two of the counts charge Woulfe with the death of the fetus,” according to the sheriff’s office.
When first responders arrived at the accident site, Schmidt and her son Caleb “were pronounced dead at the scene,” and the other two boys were “taken to St. Margaret Hospital in Hammond, Indiana.” Unfortunately, “Weston Schmidt died July 25, and Owen Schmidt died July 27,” according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Woulfe was also injured in the accident, and was “taken to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights.” Later he was “transferred to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to undergo minor reconstructive surgery for a large cut to his arm.”
In addition to Edward Schmidt’s wrongful death lawsuit against Woulfe, he faces “up to 10 years in prison” because “all of the current charges against him are felonies.” His current charges include 16 counts of reckless homicide, including two counts of reckless homicide of an unborn child. In response to the charges, Woulfe “has pleaded not guilty” and his attorney has so far “declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a court order barring prosecutors and defense attorneys from talking to reporters about the case.”
Sources:
Wrongful Death Suit Filed After Beecher Crash Killed Pregnant Woman, 3 Children
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