JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A mother was permanently injured when a truck slammed into her car. One moment she was driving down a Southside Road and what happened next, changed her life forever.
The truck driver was not drunk, but suffering a diabetic blackout. Now, his former employer has to shell out more than $4 million.
Corrie Johnson said it was a night she will never forget. Driving down University Boulevard., she was picking up dinner for her and her 3-year-old daughter when suddenly a truck driving down the wrong side of the road hit her car head on.
“I blacked out and I woke up and my daughter was not in the car. I did not know where she was, or even if she was alive,” Johnson said.
Johnson underwent several surgeries to repair broken bones and has more than 70 pieces of surgical hardware in her body now.
“My daughter was in the ambulance screaming and I could not do anything for her,” Johnson said.
Her daughter, Taylor, was lucky to be alive. She has a scar across her forehead as a constant reminder of that night.
William Ulmer was driving the Rent-Way truck. He has a history of diabetes.
Johnson's lawyer proved to a jury he also had a history of not taking the appropriate medication properly.
Doctors prescribed him insulin, 55 units in the morning and 25 units at night, but the day of the crash he took 90 units at once.
As a result of that, he would get confused and essentially become a drunken driver. When the medications are not taken right they affect the brain and it can be just like drinking a 12-pack of beer.
Attorney Tom Edwards said Ulmer was suffering from hypoglycemia when he got behind the wheel. Ulmer drove for more than 8 miles, hitting six cars along the way before he collided with Corrie Johnson’s vehicle.
Edwards proved Rent-Way knew of Ulmer's medical history and that is why the jury came back with their verdict.
“They knew that this man had problems, but yet they did nothing about it,” Edwards said.
Johnson said no amount of money that has been awarded to her would help undo what she has endured for more than five years.
She said she hopes that the company takes what happened to her very seriously and that they monitor the medical conditions of their employees.
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