Contractor, State Not Liable in Missouri Bridge Death

The jury has ruled that the state and a contractor were not responsible after a woman died when the car she was in fell through a hole in a bridge near St. Joseph.

A Buchanan County jury on Wednesday ruled in favor of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission and Progressive Contractors Inc. of Clayton in a lawsuit filed after a 2007 accident on the Pony Express Bridge.

The lawsuit was filed by Janet Peterson and her late mother, Virginia Winslow, of Savannah. They said the driver of their car, Janet Peterson’s daughter, became confused by construction on the bridge. When she took what she thought was an exit, the car dropped through a construction hole.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Winslow died weeks later from her injuries.