Parents of Iowa student killed in crash file lawsuit

The parents of a 14-year-old girl from Clear Creek Amana High School have filed a second lawsuit against the school district after their first was dismissed earlier in June, ABC affiliate KCRG reports.

According to the news source, Michael Lown and Kelly Smith, parents of Mackenzie Lown, filed the suit against the Clear Creek Amana Community School District, claiming the district violated its own policy of providing reliable transportation for athletes who use the school's system to get to and from practice, which in Lown's case was cross-country running.

The lawsuit, which was filed on June 21, 2012, in Johnson County District Court, states that at the time of the accident, Lown and 18-year-old Zachary Swenka were members of the school's cross country team, which often practiced at Kent Park near Tiffin. District policy requires "transportation of a student for student purposes to be in a district-owned vehicle driven by a school bus driver," however, the district allegedly failed to provide transportation for the athletes.

Instead, the district asked older students to drive team members to and from practices in their personal vehicles, the lawsuit stated, adding that the district "requested, encouraged, relied on or allowed older students with driver’s licenses and vehicles to provide transportation to younger students" that needed to travel to off-site practices.

In the most recent lawsuit, Lown's parents claim they had not given her permission to ride with an older student, but the school allowed it anyways. On October 17, 2011, after the team finished practice at Kent Park, Swenka reportedly took five team members - including Lown - in his 1996 Chevrolet Lumina.

Swenka was allegedly driving at an "extremely high rate of speed while traveling an ‘S’ curve and crossing a bridge," the media outlet stated. Reports show the teen was traveling at about 100 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone when he swerved off the road to the right, then back left, across the road and into oncoming traffic, crashing head-on with a mini-van. All involved in the crash were injured, while Lown was the only fatality.

According to Smart Motorist, excessive speed is a factor in one-third of all fatal car accidents. The economic costs of speeding-related crashes is estimated to be about $27.7 billion annually. Those who have been injured in such an accident may want to contact an accident attorney to determine all legal options. 

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