Wrongful Death - Article - Mother of motorcycle crash victim files wrongful death suit

Posted on Jan 26, 2006 | Tribune Review

Mother of Motorcycle Crash Victim Files Wrongful Death Suit

By Paul Peirce

The family of a 24-year-old Herminie man who was killed in 2004 when the motorcycle he was purportedly driving struck a utility pole alleges in a wrongful death suit that someone else was operating the bike.

Eileen Donnelly, the mother of the victim, Jason E. Karasek, alleges in a civil lawsuit filed this week that her son, who was recuperating from the partial amputation of his left leg, was incapable of operating the motorcycle when it crashed 2:45 a.m. June 7, 2004 .

Karasek was on a motorcycle that failed to negotiate a right turn on Sunshine Road in Sewickley Township , slid southward and left the road, striking a utility pole, state police reported.

Instead, Donnelly alleges that one of her son's friends, Michael C. Pisarcik, was the actual driver of the motorcycle and Karasek was a passenger.

"The plaintiff believes and therefore avers that by reason of the disabilities of the plaintiff's decedent, his left leg had been amputated approximately two weeks before June 7, 2004, that the defendant, Pisarcik, operated said motorcycle at a high rate and dangerous rate of speed, and as a result of his negligence, carelessness and recklessness, caused the same to leave the travelled portion of the highway, strike several vehicles and propel the decedent from the motorcycle," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges that Pisarcik left the scene of the accident and did not immediately notify police of the wreck.

Pisarcik could not be reached for comment.

However, after the accident, Pisarcik, now 27, also of Herminie, told state troopers that Karasek had begged to drive on the trip that was intended to be less than one mile, according to previous news reports of the accident.

Pisarcik told troopers the men put the bike in second gear, with Pisarcik sitting behind Karasek. The ride lasted less than one-tenth of a mile before the crash, police reported.

Karasek still had stitches and staples in his leg from surgery two weeks before the accident. He had surgery to amputate his left leg at his knee, family members reported.

He had the leg amputated as a result of months of pain he had suffered after an April 2003 motorcycle crash. Karasek had not yet been fitted with a prosthetic limb.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Douglas Shirer, of Herminie, who owned the motorcycle, and Kelly Melonuk, also of Herminie, who the lawsuit alleges "should have known" both Pisarcik and Karasek were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident and incapable of safe driving.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Gary Caruso. Donnelly is represented by Greensburg attorney Richard Galloway.

Karasek was pronounced dead at Mercy Jeannette Hospital . The Westmoreland County Coroner's Office determined he died from multiple blunt-force trauma to his head, chest and abdomen.

Pisarcik was treated at the hospital and released. He suffered from "a lot of road rash" and apparently hit his head, police said.

Neither Karasek nor Pisarcik was wearing a helmet.

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