Former Va. trooper files suit in tractor-trailer wreck

CHESAPEAKE

It was only thanks to a motorcycle helmet and heavy leather jacket that a Virginia state trooper survived getting hit by a tractor-trailer in 2010, according to his attorney.

Anything less protective and Sr. Trooper Stephen E. Hawkins would have died on Interstate 664 while writing a speeding ticket.

"If he had been... standing on the side of the road in his Stetson hat and winter coat, this would have been a fatal," said Michael Kernbach, Hawkins' attorney.

He said his client was still seriously injured, but credited the motorcycle uniform with limiting those injuries to a severely broken right leg, some internal injuries and a large cut to his shoulder.

Now unable to work, Hawkins, 56, of Yorktown has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the owner and driver of the tractor-trailer.

In the suit, Hawkins claims Randy E. Maglione, 58, of Pennsylvania was driving the truck at a "dangerous and high rate of speed" at the time of the Sept. 20, 2010, wreck. He also said Maglione failed to abide by a state law that requires drivers to move over a lane while passing police officers conducting traffic stops.

John Muchesko, president of M&C Trucking Co. in Pennsylvania, the owner of the truck, said he was not aware of the lawsuit.

"It was very unfortunate," he said of the wreck that injured Hawkins.

Maglione could not be reached for comment. He still drives for the trucking company, Muchesko said.

According to the lawsuit, Hawkins, a 10-year veteran of the state police Chesapeake Division Motorcycle Unit, had stopped a 2010 Chevrolet Impala about 12:50 p.m. for speeding in the southbound lanes of I-664 near Portsmouth Boulevard.

About the same time, Maglione was driving a tractor-trailer in the same direction.

As Maglione drove past the traffic stop, his truck veered into the right shoulder and hit Hawkins, the lawsuit said.

Maglione told troopers he was trying to move over a lane, but traffic was too heavy, a state police news release said.

In January 2011, Maglione pleaded guilty to reckless driving. He paid $432 in fines and court costs.

At the time of the wreck, Hawkins was participating in a special enforcement effort targeting speeders and reckless drivers in the Bowers Hill area, the release said.

Kernbach said Monday that his client was forced to retire last year as a result of his injuries.

"He's ambulatory, but not for any distance," he said, explaining Hawkins now walks with a pronounced limp. "At 56, you don't heal as well as you did as a young man."

Scott Daugherty, 757-222-5221, scott.daugherty@pilotonline.com