Chino pays $400,000 to settle flood death lawsuit
CHINO -- The city has paid $400,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the parents of a Corona woman who was killed last year when the truck she was driving was swept into Mill Creek by a flash flood on Chino Corona Road.
Lindsey Marie Erickson, 25, was traveling eastbound on the road in the early morning of Jan. 5, 2008, during the largest rainstorm to hit the area in three years.
Rainwater that had rushed down the Cucamonga Creek channel had inundated the road, and barricades the city had put in place to close the road had been moved.
When Erickson reached the floodwaters shortly before 1 a.m., her Ford F-250 pickup truck was swept off the road and into the creek.
Her boyfriend and passenger in the car, Rene Valencia, survived the ordeal by clinging to a tree beside the creek. Erickson's body was recovered by authorities later in the morning.
Erickson's parents, Randy and Darrilyn Erickson, filed the lawsuit against the city in February 2008, alleging that the city was negligent in designing, constructing and maintaining Chino Corona Road, the site of frequent flooding.
The Chino City Council approved the $400,000 settlement on Dec. 16, 2008, and the check was issued to the Ericksons on Jan. 7, said Chino spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.
The settlement does not include an admission of liability by the city of Chino.
After Lindsey Erickson's death, the city installed permanent swing gates to be closed in the event of flooding.
The gates, which Chino Mayor Dennis Yates said would cost $14,000 to install, cannot be moved aside by drivers when they are closed.
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