The children of Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone are suing a trucking company, a truck manufacturer, and others for damages following a fatal Alabama interstate crash that killed their mother.
The lawsuit alleges the driver of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van lost control, causing it to flip over as he tried to steer it back onto the highway. The 63-year-old Stone was inside, along with her bandmates and entourage.
Known for her hit ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’ and as a member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence, Stone was a key figure in the early 2000s neo-soul scene. She was returning to her Atlanta-area home after a Mardi Gras ball performance in Mobile, Alabama.
The suit was filed Tuesday in a Georgia state court in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville. It says Stone and the other occupants of the van survived the initial predawn wreck and that passersby pulled over and helped five of the nine occupants crawl out. Stone was still trying to get out when an 18-wheeler carrying a load of sugar slammed into the van, the lawsuit says. That impact ejected Stone and pinned her under the van, where she died, the lawsuit claims. Sheila Hopkins, still inside the van, suffered injuries.
Hopkins and Stone’s two children, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, filed the lawsuit. They’re suing the van driver, the truck driver, the man and companies who owned the van, the trucking company and the maker of the 18-wheel truck. The suit claims that the truck’s collision avoidance system was faulty and failed to detect the van lying stationary in one lane of the interstate. The suit also claims that the truck driver was listening to music on headphones, wasn’t paying attention and never braked before slamming into the van at nearly 70 mph (110 kph).
Neither trucking company CSRT of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or truck manufacturer Daimler Truck North America of Portland, Oregon, immediately responded to emails seeking comment Thursday.
In an Instagram post before the crash, Stone had told fans she was excited about upcoming events and “getting back in the mix.”
“A lot of stuff is going on that I don’t want to just let out of the bag just yet,” she said. “But you can see that there’s a big grin on my face.”
The singer-songwriter created hits like “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” which reached No. 1 for 10 weeks on Billboard’s Adult R&B airplay chart; “Baby” with legendary soul singer Betty Wright, another No. 1 hit; and “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” and “Brotha.” Her 2001 album “Mahogany Soul” reached No. 22 on the Billboard 200, while 2007’s “The Art of Love & War” peaked at No. 11.
The church-grown singer was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Her group The Sequence, on the trailblazing imprint Sugar Hill Records, became one of the first female groups to record a rap song. The group’s “Funk You Up,” which has been sampled by numerous artists, including Dr. Dre. Stone later joined the trio Vertical Hold before launching her solo career.
