MoDOT must pay family of girl killed in bridge accident

ARNOLD, Mo. -- Arbitrators have ordered the Missouri Department of Transportation to pay $624,000 to the family of a girl killed when her father's pickup truck catapulted over snow piled against a bridge railing, MoDOT officials said Wednesday.

The accident happened on Dec. 26, 2000, when a pickup driven by Donald Johnston of Higginsville, Mo., skidded on a snow-slickened Interstate 55 bridge at Arnold, about 15 miles south of St. Louis. The truck ramped over snow that MoDOT crews had piled against a guardrail and fell into the icy Meramec River, 56 feet below.

Stephanie Johnston, 13, drowned when she was thrown from the truck and landed in the river. Donald Johnston suffered a broken neck.

The case was heard by arbitrators Dec. 10-11. Missouri Lawyers Weekly reported the arbitrators said MoDOT was negligent in creating the pile, and that MoDOT had decided not to send out crews on overtime to remove the piled-up snow for "economic reasons."

The arbitrators' ruling was binding, meaning the state cannot appeal, MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said.

Donald Johnston and his wife had originally sued MoDOT, alleging that crews created a dangerous condition by plowing snow up against the guardrail and allowing it to remain there for 13 days.

Under a Missouri statute, the Johnstons requested that their claim be submitted to binding arbitration before a panel of three arbitrators.

Family members said Donald and Stephanie Johnston were on their way from the family's home in Higginsville -- about 55 miles east of Kansas City -- to Farmington to visit a friend of Stephanie's.