Family of woman killed when van drove into south Windsor house weighs legal options
A 73-year-old woman was killed when a car crashed into a house on Dec. 8.
The family of a woman who was killed when a car crashed into a home last week has retained a local injury lawyer, the lawyer announced Monday.
Greg Monforton, who works in the areas of car crashes, wrongful death and personal injury, announced Monday he was looking for more information and witnesses related to the crash that killed 73-year-old Ruzena Noniewicz, who also went by Rose.
"It would certainly appear at this stage that some measure of responsibility is going to rest on the shoulders of the driver, owner and owner of the car which crashed through the home for obvious reasons," said Monforton.
"But the first order of business will also be to explore how it came to be that the vehicles can drive at a sufficient speed down that street to cause this kind of damage."
The Riviera Drive home belongs to the Polak family. Noniewicz, who was in the home at the time, was killed by the car, while her daughter-in-law Amber was injured, when a car crashed into the front of the home on Dec. 8. The driver of the car has not been publicly identified and last week police would not say if charges are pending.
Monforton noted the family had a "Please Slow Down" sign in their front yard — one that carries a City of Windsor logo. The family has had two other instances where cars came onto the home's front lawn and caused damage," he added.
"It's part of our responsibilities to this family to determine how this was allowed to continue ... and for this family home to be in such a position of potential danger," he said.
Monforton said it was "too early to point fingers" on whether the city bears some responsibility for the crash.
A city spokesperson said in a statement that it does not comment on "pending legal proceedings."
Monforton says Windsor police are currently working on a "thorough" crash reconstruction and forensic investigation.
"Everybody understandably wants answers and they want answers quickly, but we have to allow the investigations presently pending to play out and for the necessary analysis to be undertaken before we can determine our future course of action," he said.
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"The message that I hope your viewers will will take is that … anybody has any information at all pertaining to what happened that day or any information relating to the individual responsible for driving her vehicle and through the picture window of Peter Polak's house to contact my firm, because we would very much like to speak with them."
Monforton says it will take about six months to repair the damage to the home, and it's expected that home insurance will cover the damage.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up to help the family, set up by a colleague of the family members. It has raised more than $11,000 as of Monday evening.
Satrina Lynne Durham says her family has also dealt with a similar tragedy. In 2015, her six-year-old great niece was struck by a learner driver.
"She ended up passing away later that night, so just something about this just hit me and I thought I wanted to do something to help," she said.
With files from Dale Molnar and Pratyush Dayal