Lawsuit filed in death of S’wood teacher after crash
Sun-Times Media June 26, 2012 12:54PM
Updated: July 28, 2012 6:22AM
Relatives of a Streamwood school teacher and coach who unexpectedly passed away last September claim she died at least in part from injuries she suffered in a traffic crash on her way to school, according to a wrongful death lawsuit her father has filed.
Chelsea Lloyd, 29, was a health and physical education teacher at Tefft Middle School in Streamwood and coached men’s and women’s soccer teams at Streamwood High School, her family said in an obituary published in the Aurora Beacon-News.
An autopsy immediately following her death was inconclusive, but the suit, filed Monday in Cook County claims Lloyd died at least in part from injuries she suffered during a traffic crash nearly three weeks before her death, when a heavy-duty pickup rear-ended her vehicle.
Final autopsy results showed that Lloyd died from bronchial pneumonia and multiple injuries from the accident, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, which ruled the death an accident.
She was on her way to the middle school, driving southbound on Route 59 about 7:40 a.m. on Aug. 19, when she slowed for traffic at Struckman Boulevard in Bartlett and the truck struck her from behind, according to the suit.
Nearly 10 months after her death, students are still posting heartfelt messages to a Facebook page established in her honor.
“these last days wont be the same without you,” one student wrote at the end of this school year. “i really wish you were here to see us all graduate and smiling at us and taking pictures with us”
“You were like a big sister towards everyone,” wrote another student. “We knew we could trust you with everything and anything.”
Her father, Johnny K. Lloyd, filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court against both Equipment Depot of Illinois — the company that owns the truck allegedly involved — and against its employee who was driving.
The two-count suit claims vehicular negligence, wrongful death and survival action. Her family is seeking at least $2 million in damages based on what she might have earned in wages and pension benefits had she lived, plus medical and funeral expenses.
A spokesperson for Equipment Depot of Illinois could not be reached.
