ATLANTA (AP) — Two youngsters of R&B singer Angie Stone are suing a trucking firm, truck producer and others, looking for damages for an Alabama interstate crash that killed Stone.
The lawsuit says the motive force misplaced management of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van and when he tried to steer it again onto the freeway, it flipped over, with the 63-year-old Stone, her bandmates and entourage inside.
Stone was a Grammy-nominated R&B singer and member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence. She was recognized for the hit track “Want I Didn’t Miss You,” and flourished within the early 2000s as neo-soul started to dominate R&B. She was on her means again to her Atlanta-area dwelling after a efficiency at a Mardi Gras ball in Cell, Alabama.
The swimsuit was filed Tuesday in a Georgia state court docket within the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville. It says Stone and the opposite occupants of the van survived the preliminary predawn wreck and that passersby pulled over and helped 5 of the 9 occupants crawl out. Stone was nonetheless making an attempt to get out when an 18-wheeler carrying a load of sugar slammed into the van, the lawsuit says. That impression ejected Stone and pinned her below the van, the place she died, the lawsuit claims. Sheila Hopkins, nonetheless contained in the van, suffered accidents.
Hopkins and Stone’s two youngsters, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, filed the lawsuit. They’re suing the van driver, the truck driver, the person and firms who owned the van, the trucking firm and the maker of the 18-wheel truck. The swimsuit claims that the truck’s collision avoidance system was defective and didn’t detect the van mendacity stationary in a single lane of the interstate. The swimsuit additionally claims that the truck driver was listening to music on headphones, wasn’t paying consideration and by no means braked earlier than slamming into the van at almost 70 mph (110 kph).
Neither trucking firm CSRT of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or truck producer Daimler Truck North America of Portland, Oregon, instantly responded to emails looking for remark Thursday.
In an Instagram submit earlier than the crash, Stone had advised followers she was enthusiastic about upcoming occasions and “getting back in the mix.”
“A lot of stuff is going on that I don’t want to just let out of the bag just yet,” she mentioned. “But you can see that there’s a big grin on my face.”
The singer-songwriter created hits like “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” which reached No. 1 for 10 weeks on Billboard’s Grownup R&B airplay chart; “Baby” with legendary soul singer Betty Wright, one other No. 1 hit; and “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” and “Brotha.” Her 2001 album “Mahogany Soul” reached No. 22 on the Billboard 200, whereas 2007’s “The Art of Love & War” peaked at No. 11.
The church-grown singer was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Her group The Sequence, on the trailblazing imprint Sugar Hill Data, grew to become one of many first feminine teams to file a rap track. The group’s “Funk You Up,” which has been sampled by quite a few artists, together with Dr. Dre. Stone later joined the trio Vertical Maintain earlier than launching her solo profession.
