THU SEP 30 2009 — Cook County Judge Diane Larsen approved a settlement agreement between the family of Kevetta Davis, 19, and Viacom, VH-1 Music, 51 Minds Entertainment and Dennis Hernandez, 38, for a fatal accident on I-57 last year. Driving a box truck, Hernandez fell asleep at the wheel while he was transporting equipment for the television show ‘Rock of Love with Brett Michaels’ just south of West Frankfurt, Illinois. Kevetta Davis and Yasmin Jackson, 19, were killed when the southbound truck crashed into their northbound car on Interstate 57 near mile marker 64 on Friday September 26, 2008.
Hernandez, of Lamont, California, survived and was cited for driving with a suspended license, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed, driving in the wrong lane and improper lane usage (violation of the median).
Two other people who were residents of Florida were seriously injured. William B. Wiley, 63, and Colleen N. Wiley, 59, were traveling northbound in a third vehicle involved the accident. Both suffered major injuries and were airlifted to Barnes Hospital.
Just as West Frankfurt Fire Department was returning to their fire station at about 9 p.m., a second accident happened when a northbound truck on I-57 at mile marker 59 plowed into northbound traffic that was still backed up from the first accident that was still being investigated.
A tractor-trailer driven by Milinko Cukovic, 54, of Canada rear-ended a vehicle driven by James W. Day, 64, which killed a passenger, 80 year-old Paul E. Blood. Multiple cars were crashed in that accident and one other person suffered major injuries in the second accident.
Davis’ parents filed suit about one month after the accident last year. The reality series and parent companies agreed to settle for $6.5 million in response to the lawsuit brought by the family of Kevetta Davis.