Lawsuit filed in November death of Bluffton motorcyclist

A lawsuit alleging that a pothole led to the November death of a Bluffton motorcyclist was filed against the S.C. Department of Transportation in Beaufort County Court on March 1.

In the suit, Ruth Brown, representative of the estate of her husband, Ronald Angove, 67, alleges he died as a result of injuries sustained Oct. 22 as he drove a motorcycle north on River Road in Yemassee. The suit also claims the crash happened due to negligence on the part of SCDOT.

Angove drove one of three motorcycles that crashed after hitting a large pothole. The four motorcyclists who rode on the three motorcycles were injured; all of the riders were wearing helmets, according to S.C. Highway Patrol’s Lance Cpl. Matthew Southern.

As Angove rode, the suit says that he “suddenly and without warning” encountered a large, deep pothole that “extended across the traveled portion of the roadway.”

When Angove’s motorcycle hit the pothole, it caused him to lose control and crash, the lawsuit said.

The suit claims that the pothole and other road defects on River Road have been known to SCDOT since at least 2011, because the pothole had been patched before. SCDOT, the lawsuit says, failed to repair and maintain the roadway.

“As a result of (Angove’s) death, the plaintiff and the estate’s beneficiaries have endured and suffered grief, sorrow, shock, wounded feelings, mental anguish and loss of support, love, companionship and financial support,” the lawsuit says.

After the crash, Angove “endured conscious pain and suffering from both injuries received prior to his death and as a result of the shock, terror and conscious perception of his impending death,” the suit said.

Angove died on Nov. 2 at the Medical University of South Carolina in Columbia, according to Beaufort County Deputy Coroner David Ott.

An attempt to reach Matthew Creech, Brown’s Ridgeland attorney, for comment was unsuccessful.

Pete Poore, director of communications for SCDOT, said on Thursday that he was unaware whether the department had received the lawsuit and declined to comment on pending litigation.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Lawsuit filed in November death of Bluffton motorcyclist."