Palm Beach Gardens police cleared American tennis star Venus Williams of any wrongdoing in her recent car accident that took the life of Jerome Barson.
After an initial police report indicated that the 37-year-old Williams was at fault for the fatal two-car collision, a video surveillance tape showed that the 11th ranked women’s tennis player’s car was hit by another vehicle carrying Barson and his wife Linda Barson.
According to the police report:
Based on the evidence obtained in the ongoing investigation, it has been determined the vehicle driven by Venus Williams lawfully entered the intersection on a circular green traffic signal and attempted to travel north through the intersection to Ballenisles Drive.
As Williams was traveling through the intersection, a Nissan Altima entered the intersection traveling south, and made a left turn in front of Williams’ vehicle, causing her to stop advancing through the intersection to avoid a collision . … The traffic signal then cycled to green, at which time Barson continued westbound and entered the intersection. The front end of Barson’s vehicle collided the right front of Williams’ vehicle.
According to a report by SportingNews, Linda Barson incurred several broken bones in the accident, while her husband Jerome had his main arteries torn, suffered massive internal bleeding and internal organ damage, and fractured his spine. Jerome succumbed to his injuries and died two weeks after the accident.
Williams, who was not injured in the accident, according to police was not “impaired or distracted” and did not receive a citation when the accident happened.
SportingNews further reported, “A wrongful death suit seeking an unspecified amount of damages has been filed against Williams, who had previously received citations in Florida for driving without insurance in 2009 and driving on a revoked license after causing an accident in 2013.”