Civil suit filed in deaths of Brownsville couple killed in I-70 crash
The family of a retired Brownsville minister and his wife who were killed last May in a four-vehicle crash along Interstate 70 West near Triadelphia, W.Va., has filed a civil suit against multiple parties whom they believe are culpable in the couple’s deaths.
Nathan Tinstman of Richeyville filed the suit this week in Ohio County Circuit Court, asking for compensatory and punitive damages in connection with the deaths of his parents, Marc and Terri Tinstman.
The crash occurred May 3 near the Pennsylvania line. The Tinstmans’ had slowed their vehicle in a construction zone due to backed-up traffic. A truck and trailer driven by Joseph Estep slowed quickly to avoid hitting the Tinstmans’ vehicle, and a tractor-trailer driven by Brishesh Yadav failed to stop, striking Estep’s vehicle, according to the suit.
That impact, the suit continued, sent the truck and trailer into the Tinstman’s Honda CRV, pushing the CRV into another tractor-trailer, killing the couple.
The suit names as defendants Yadav, Estep, California-based trucking companies Shera Express and Bulldog Freightway, two John Does, Swank Construction, E.L. Robinson Engineering, Tunnel Ridge mining company, Belmont, Ohio-based New Edge Maintenance and Jeremiah Kemp, who owned the truck Estep was driving that day.
The suit accuses Yadav and Estep of reckless and negligent driving. It accuses Shera Express and Bulldog Freightway of not properly training or supervising Yadav to make sure he knew how to properly operate the tractor-trailer. And the John Does are accused of being part of the selection process that picked Shera, Bulldog and Yadav to transport goods in the area.
Further, it accuses Kemp and New Edge of not properly training or supervising Estep to make sure he knew how to operate the truck and trailer. It also accuses Swank, Tunnel Ridge and E.L. Robinson of not properly designing the construction project and the traffic controls and warnings within it, which they contend led to a dangerous environment.
In an email sent to the media, Nathan Tinstman said that Yadav, who originally was charged with two counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide, was sentenced on one count of failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle and fined $100.
“In response to our calls on the West Virginia legislature to address this failure in current state law, House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty said, ‘I am a bit shocked that given the circumstances that there was no other potential charge available,'” Tinstman said in the email. “He also pledged that his office among others would be working to address this in the upcoming session.”
Attorney Andrew Meek, who is representing the Tinstman family in the case, said Tuesday, “This has been a terrible tragedy and loss for the Tintsman family.
“The lawsuit seeks to obtain damages that reflect that, against the people who caused this tragedy,” Meek said. “Everyone knows how dangerous that stretch of I-70 has been for some time … The lawsuit seeks to hold all of those drivers and other entities involved in causing the dangerous traffic accountable.”
Marc Tinstman led seven congregations before settling in Ohio in 2004, where he spent 13 years as pastor of Brilliant Christian Church before retiring in 2017. He and his wife, a pharmacist, moved to Brownsville, where Marc joined a local church group, which allowed him to continue preaching, and served as a hospice chaplain in Uniontown.
Staff writer Jon Andreassi contributed to this story.