Victim’s family sues former Allegan County deputy over fatal crash
ALLEGAN — The family of a woman killed in a crash with an Allegan County Sheriff’s Office cruiser has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department, county, township and the deputy who was driving.
The civil suit claims former deputy Thomas Goggins was driving the cruiser carelessly and recklessly “at a dangerous rate of speed” at the time of the June 12 crash that killed Ofelia Nunez, 74, and seriously injured her husband Jose Nunez.
In September, WOOD TV-8 learned, in the seconds before the fatal collision, Goggins was allegedly driving more than 90 miles per hour with no lights or sirens.
Goggins and the field training officer riding with him said they were trying to catch a speeding minivan. When he faced misdemeanor charges last year, Goggins’ defense said he did exactly what he was trained to do.
But the state police report on the crash shows an MSP detective sergeant questioned Goggins about a pizza order the deputy and his FTO were scheduled to pick up within minutes of the crash.
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The lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 to cover Ofelia Nunez’s funeral and burial expenses plus costs, interest and attorney fees.
ACSO declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday, as did the defendants’ lawyer.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Victim’s family sues former Allegan County deputy over fatal crash
