Rule’s mother, Jacqueline Johnson, and Wilson recently filed a personal injury civil lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. The suit names as defendants Schidecker and her mother plus various John and Jane Does.
The suit claims Wilson’s injuries are permanent and that his medical bills have exceeded $287,000. It alleges Schidecker caused the death of Rule and that her mother negligently entrusted her vehicle to her daughter. The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $25,000.
Johnson’s attorney was traveling and could not be reached Wednesday. Schidecker’s criminal case attorney, Dennis Lieberman, did not return a message seeking comments.
Police said Schidecker had a blood-alcohol content of .236, more than 10 times the legal limit for a person under 21, and nearly three times the .08 limit for an adult. According to 911 calls, Schidecker drove her 2002 Ford Explorer the wrong way up I-75 for nearly four miles and then hit the Chevrolet Blazer driven by Wilson. The impact sent the Blazer into a tractor trailer rig, where it was dragged down the highway before bursting into flames.
Reports said Wilson was badly burned and suffered several broken bones, but was pulled from the flames by motorists. Rescuers said they heard Rule’s screams but could not save her due to the fire and wreckage. Schidecker, who suffered just a scratch, saw her vehicle spin and hit a van. Overall, eight people were involved and five hurt.
Schidecker wasn’t indicted until more than three months later and wasn’t arrested until several months after that. Since then, Schidecker has been on house arrest while wearing an electronic monitoring device. Lieberman unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the drawing of Schidecker’s blood. Conditions of her detention have been modified to allow Schidecker to attend 12-step programs and church.
Schidecker was charged with six crimes and her trial is scheduled to begin June 10, which would have been Rule’s 41st birthday.
“Just about all of us will be at the trial,” Johnson told Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon earlier this year. “I don’t know if my granddaughter will go. She said she can’t sit in the same room with the girl who killed her mom.
“That lady — Rachel … Rachel Shidecker… took my baby away. But I don’t have a hard heart towards her. I’m not in this to see her spend the rest of her life in prison. That’s not going to bring Chereece back. But I’d like to see her get help so she never takes somebody else’s child or mother away from them. I don’t want anybody else to feel this hurt.”
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