Lawsuit filed in I-15 death of stranded honeymooners

By Steve Green

Thursday, June 4, 2009 | 1:18 p.m.

Two trucking companies and their drivers are being sued over a 2008 accident on I-15 in Las Vegas in which two honeymooners outside their stranded vehicle were struck and killed.

Attorneys for the parents of one of the victims, Lisa Lynn Prock-Hills, filed a negligence suit this week in Clark County District Court against truck driver Stanislaw Masalski of Clearwater, Fla., and his company, Stan Trucking Inc.

Also sued were driver Sam Montalvo Martinez and his employer at the time of the accident, J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. of Lowell, Ark.

Attempts to locate Masalski for comment were unsuccessful Thursday and J.B. Hunt officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said Kevin Edward Hills, 38, and Prock-Hills, 41, were killed on Interstate 15 just south of Silverado Ranch Boulevard on March 13, 2008.

The couple was on the right side of the road at about 5 a.m. trying to change a flat tire on their black Toyota Tacoma pickup, the NHP said.

The lawsuit said the vehicle had run out of gas, or had a flat tire, or both.

NHP investigators determined that Masalski, who was driving a semi-truck, hit Prock-Hills and then Hills.

Investigators said that Martinez, who was driving another semi-truck behind Masalski, struck the left side of the Toyota and ran over the couple.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene and the accident resulted in a seven-hour closure of northbound Interstate 15 from St. Rose Parkway to Silverado Ranch Boulevard so investigators could document the scene and clean it up.

Masalski told police he thought he had hit a bump in the road. After seeing nothing in his rearview mirror, he continued northbound.

When Masalski stopped at a truck stop near Las Vegas Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue, he discovered a woman’s black high-heel shoe behind the truck’s cab and other indications he had hit someone on the right side of the truck, court records show.

He then called police and the shoe was later matched with another shoe found at the accident scene.

Martinez told police he thought he ran over a pothole and continued driving.

Debris was found at the accident scene that matched the truck Martinez was driving, but Martinez told NHP investigators he did not know how those pieces ended up at the scene.

Masalski earlier this year was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and Martinez was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident and failure to maintain a travel lane.

The parents of Prock-Hills, James and Julie Prock, who live in California, say in their lawsuit that Prock-Hills was standing south of the stranded vehicle and was waving her arms or otherwise trying to communicate with oncoming traffic to warn of the presence of the couple and to seek assistance.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of the drivers and seeks punitive damages for their alleged failure to stop at the scene. It claims they failed to maintain safe distances from other vehicles, failed to pay proper attention, failed to stay in their lane and of driving too fast for the conditions at the time.

J.B. Hunt is accused of negligence in the hiring, training and supervision of its driver.