Venus Williams obtained an emergency protective order Wednesday in the lawsuit filed against her after a fatal car crash. The family of Jerome Barson was seeking to download information from the vehicle in which he was a passenger when it struck Williams’s car in South Florida on June 9.
Barson, 78, died two weeks later from injuries suffered in the crash, and the initial police report stated that Williams was “at fault for violating the right of way” of Barson’s car, which was being driven by his wife. The “black box” in each of the vehicles involved could provide key information about the incident, and attorneys for Williams expressed concern about that data possibly being mishandled by the Barsons’ team.
Williams’s lawyers asked for the protective order to be issued until they could agree on terms for a collection of data overseen by both sides. A hearing on the matter was scheduled at the Palm Beach County Courthouse for Friday, the same day the 37-year-old Williams is set to take on Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the third round at Wimbledon.
Williams broke into tears at the All England club when asked about the crash Monday, following her first-round match. “There are no words to describe, like, how devastating and, yeah,” she said haltingly.
“The on-board data of both vehicles will be critical evidence,” an attorney for Williams, Kevin Yombor, wrote in requesting the order (via the Sun-Sentinel). “The actions taken by Plaintiff should not occur until ... a procedure is in place to ensure that the data of each vehicle is properly collected.”
The Barson family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Williams last week, claiming the crash was a result of “negligence.” The family claimed that the tennis star was at fault for “failing to yield the right of way, failing to stop at a red light . . . failing to stop for oncoming traffic, driving too fast for the conditions, driving carelessly and recklessly, and distracted driving.”
According to police, witnesses said that Williams entered an intersection near her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after the light had turned green for the Barsons’ car. She claimed that she entered on a green light but was unable to continue through the intersection because of stopped traffic in front of her.
ten-williams
