MILWAUKEE — Former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee basketball coach LaVall Jordan has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in regard to his mother's death.
Karen Jordan died on Oct. 14, 2020, just three days after she was involved in a car crash.
According to the lawsuit, Jordan was a passenger in a vehicle traveling eastbound when it attempted to make a left-hand turn at the intersection of Fond Du Lac and Center. As the vehicle was turning, a Milwaukee man traveling westbound went through the intersection, and the vehicles collided.
Jordan suffered major injuries and died at the hospital a few days later.
The lawsuit says the traffic light was green for eastbound and westbound travel when the crash occurred. LaVall's attorney alleges the vehicle that hit Jordan was traveling at a high rate of speed.
The Milwaukee Police Department investigated the crash and found the vehicle was going 52 miles per hour five seconds prior to impact, according to the lawsuit. The posted speed limit in that area is 30 miles per hour.
The lawsuit states that about one second before impact, police discovered the vehicle that hit Jordan applied the brakes and slowed to 38 miles per hour by collision.
Milwaukee police reconstructed the scene and determined if the vehicle had been traveling at 30 miles per hour at the time of the crash, Jordan's vehicle would have cleared the point of impact by 2.6 seconds.
If the vehicle had been going 35 miles per hour, it would've cleared the crash by 1.4 seconds. Finally, had the vehicle been traveling 40 miles per hour, Jordan's vehicle would have cleared the point of impact by 0.6 seconds.
The lawsuit also alleges the person driving Jordan's vehicle was impaired. LaVall's attorney said the driver's blood alcohol content was .176 g/100ml of ethanol, which is nearly twice the legal limit.
Now, Jordan's family is filing a lawsuit against the people driving both vehicles, as well as the three insurance companies involved in the crash.
The family is seeking damages from both drivers in an amount to be determined at trial.
Editor's note: Because the defendants have not been charged in connection to the crash, TMJ4 News has chosen not to name them.
