ST. LOUIS – The owner of an over-the-road freight carrier is counter-suing people involving a fatal collision two years ago on westbound Interstate 70 in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
In a suit filed at the Eastern District of Missouri on July 12, Eagle Express Lines of Illinois and its driver Glenn A. Jones claim they are required to defend themselves in a wrongful death and survival action lawsuit pending in federal court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, but allege that the defendants in their suit are actually the negligent parties in a crash that claimed the life of Osman Bakali.
According to background in the suit, one of the named defendants, Zarqa Nyazee of St. Louis, rented a vehicle that her son, Shamaas Nyazee of Indianapolis, used to travel to a wedding in Long Island, New York in 2016 with Bakali and another individual not named in the suit, Daoud Khan, however the only authorized driver for the vehicle was Zarqa, the suit states.
After the wedding, the three left the Long Island wedding at 2 a.m., setting out to return to their respective homes hundreds of miles to the west.
"Upon information and belief, during this trip the three would receive little sleep or rest, be required to drive a long distance in a car they were unfamiliar, and for which, as will be described herein, no one therein was authorized to drive," the complaint states.
At some point during their trip, Shamaas allowed Bakali to drive and at approximately 9 a.m. on July 16, 2016, he fell asleep at the wheel "and thought he may have hit something in the road."
Bakali pulled over and stopped the vehicle "with a portion thereof still remaining in the travel lane of I-70," the suit claims. He exited to check for damage.
As he attempted to re-enter the Toyota Camry through the driver side door "without looking" Bakali was struck and killed by the tractor-trailer driven by Jones, the suit states. Jones was not able to enter into the left hand lane of I-70 due to traffic conditions, it states.
Eagle Express and Jones are represented by Brian Shepard of Pion, Nerone, Girman, Winslow & Smith of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.