Family Sues Truck Driver in Death of Alabama EMT

A relative of an emergency medical technician who was killed while tending to an accident victim on an icy interstate in Alabama has sued the driver of a pickup truck that state troopers said hit the woman as she worked.

The mother of Care Ambulance employee Laura Elizabeth Pullam, 29, of Lowndesboro filed the wrongful death lawsuit in state court seeking compensation on behalf of the Pullam’s infant daughter.

Pullam was killed Dec. 15 while working an accident near Montgomery on Interstate 65, portions of which had a glazing of ice. State troopers identified the driver of a pickup truck that hit the woman as Robert Allen Cumbie, 42, who was named in the lawsuit filed by Mary Smith.

“(Smith) wants to make sure the future is good for this child, that it’ll be taken care of because of this lawsuit, because otherwise it would have no chance,” said Jere Beasley, an attorney for the family.

Cumbie declined comment, and court records do not yet list an attorney representing him.

State troopers said a preliminary investigation showed the truck was speeding and passing other vehicles that had slowed down because of icy road conditions. Troopers said that Cumbie wasn’t hurt, and that a grand jury would likely decide whether to file charges.

Beasley said Smith was not out for revenge.

“She really has no animosity toward the person who caused this. She wants to take care of the child,” he said.