Efforts to reach Gilliam’s attorney or a sheriff’s office representative were unsuccessful late Tuesday afternoon.
Gilliam crashed his car on Wagner Ford Road in Harrison Twp at about 3 a.m. Jan. 1, 2015. Utility lines were touching the car and the roadway, which slowed emergency crews from checking the car, according to the sheriff’s office.
Gilliam, who suffered serious injuries including a collapsed lung, dislocated hip, multiple rib fractures, ball-and-socket hip fracture and a broken wrist, was left inside the car for about six hours, the suit alleges.
The suit alleges that Crowe cleared the scene at 4:30 a.m. and that six hours after that, a Busy Bee employee called 911 after he went to remove the vehicle from a flatbed truck and Gilliam was found in the vehicle screaming for help.
Gilliam accuses Crowe of neglect of duty for not doing a proper inventory of the vehicle and not removing Gilliam from a “position of peril” or providing emergency care.
Gilliam accuses Plummer of negligent training and supervision due to Crowe’s actions. The plaintiff also accuses Busy Bee for negligence because they did not check the inside of the vehicle before towing.
Gilliam seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest and attorneys’ fees and costs in excess of $25,000 — standard language in such a lawsuit.
After his release from a local hospital, Gilliam was cited for failure to control.
In April 2015, Crowe was disciplined for failing to do a proper inventory on a vehicle. Maj. Daryl Wilson said then Crowe was a senior, "well-trained" employee and that the citation was the first disciplinary action taken against him.
While the wires may have been a factor, Wilson said then that did not recuse Crowe from completing the inventory report. Had Crowe done so, he “may have found the driver.”
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