CTV Kitchener reporter seriously injured while covering crash files $15.7 million lawsuit
CTV
A CTV Kitchener reporter who was struck and seriously injured while covering a crash south of Guelph earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the driver who hit her, an unnamed Guelph police officer, the Guelph Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and the province.
A CTV Kitchener reporter who was struck and seriously injured while covering a crash south of Guelph earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the driver who hit her, an unnamed Guelph police officer, the Guelph Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and the province.
Stephanie Villella and her family are suing for a collective $15.7 million in damages.
On March 1, Villella was at the intersection of Brock Road and Maltby Road, which had been closed and barricaded by police, when she was hit by a 92-year-old woman driving a sedan. The driver has since been charged with careless driving.
Villella had been gathering images of a separate two-vehicle crash that happened on Brock Road earlier in the day.
According to the lawsuit’s statement of claim, Villella was standing within the road-closed barricade when, without warning, the driver’s car passed through the barricade and struck her.
The statement of claim alleges the Guelph police officer failed to properly secure the roadway and ought to have known the barricades erected were not sufficient. It also says he failed to properly direct traffic around the barricaded section of the roadway.
The lawsuit alleges the province of Ontario, the Guelph Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police are vicariously liable for the negligence of the officer. None of these claims have been proven in court.
