Nine years after being severely wounded in the horrific Avon Mountain wreck, Michael Cummings is still fighting to hold the state Department of Transportation responsible. A dump truck went out of control down the 500-foot hill on Route 44 in Avon in 2005 after its faulty brakes failed, causing a fiery, 20-vehicle accident at the bottom that killed four people and injured 19.
On Wednesday at the state Supreme Court, Cummings watched as his lawyer argued that a jury should be allowed to decide whether the DOT should be held accountable. Cummings claims state officials knew for years that the road was dangerous but didn’t take adequate safety precautions such as adding a runaway truck ramp near the bottom of the hill until after the crash.
