Depression and alcohol appear to have contributed to the suicide death of 63-year old Jensen beach resident Robert Walroth. According to his wife, Walroth left home in an inebriated state the other evening and failed to come home within a reasonable period of time. When the wife tried to contact him by calling his cell phone, Walroth answered and replied that he didn’t know where he was. Subsequent phone calls from the wife went unanswered.
The next thing she knew, the wife learned that there had been an accident and that a pedestrian had been struck by a train while lying down on the train tracks, apparently in an attempt to commit suicide. Not knowing where her husband was and fearing the worse she went down to the tracks to investigate what had happened. She gave the deputy her husband’s phone number and when he called it the cell phone under the blanket covering the victim’s remains rang and lit up. She knew at that point that the victim was her husband.
Toxicology reports on Walroth could take several weeks to complete. Regardless of their results, the wife may have a case to sue the railroad company, Florida East Coast Railway. Whenever a wrongful death occurs, someone is responsible and can be held responsible. No matter who is at fault the family of the victim has a right to sue the parties responsible for the wrongful death. Even if the victim is found to be inebriated and suicidal, the railroad company could be found liable for being at least partially negligent.
Questions that have to be answered are ones such as who was operating the train and what was his engineering experience? How long of a shift was the engineer currently working? Was the engineer using his cell phone at the time of the accident? Was the train engineer taking drugs or alcohol when he struck the victim? Why did the train fail to stop in time to prevent killing the victim?
Police and railroad company records must be immediately secured to provide answers to these and other questions surrounding this tragedy. If you have had a loved on who has been killed of injured as a pedestrian by a train, automobile of any other motor vehicle, call the Maus Law Firm now. Our team of knowledgeable and compassionate Florida wrongful death attorneys will listen to your side of the story with great interest and will help you get the compensation you deserve.