The family of Grammy-nominated R&B legend Angie Stone has filed a wrongful death lawsuit following the tragic highway accident that claimed the singer’s life in the early morning hours of March 1, 2025.
According to court documents obtained by WSBTV, the lawsuit filed on Sept. 2 in Gwinnett County by Angie Stone’s children, Diamond Stone and Michael D’Angelo Archer, claims that Stone survived the initial crash when the Sprinter van she was riding in overturned. While passersby helped five of the nine passengers escape, Stone was still trying to exit when a tractor-trailer slammed into the van. She was ejected and pinned underneath, ultimately dying from her injuries, the lawsuit claims. Stone’s family believes that the tractor-trailer driver was inattentive at the time of the crash and that the vehicle’s collision avoidance system failed to function properly, among other claims.
Angie Stone Was Allegedly Still Alive During The First Crash, According To The Suit
Stone, along with several family members and bandmates, was traveling northbound through Montgomery County, Alabama, after performing the night before in Mobile on March 1. The group was being transported in a 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van as part of a contracted trip from Atlanta to Mobile and back. The van was owned or operated by Good 2 Go Cafe LLC, Executive Elite Transportation, LLC, and/or Joseph L. Robinson, and driven by Leethel Carter, the lawsuit alleges.
While en route back to Atlanta in the pre-dawn hours, tragedy struck. Around 4:00 AM, WSBTV reports that the driver, Carter, reportedly lost control of the Sprinter van while traveling on I-65 North. The vehicle veered off the left side of the road and, in an attempt to correct the path back onto the highway, the van flipped onto its driver’s side and came to a stop in the left lane.
Despite the van overturning, the lawsuit claims that Stone and several others inside survived the initial crash without life-threatening injuries. Several passengers began trying to exit the vehicle, aided by other motorists who stopped to help. Good Samaritans used their hazard lights to alert oncoming traffic, and five of the nine passengers managed to escape the wreckage.
The Lawsuit Claims A Second Collision Occurred, Killing Stone
But at approximately 4:25 AM, a CRST tractor-trailer driven by Jared Wilkinson allegedly approached the scene in the left lane at full highway speed. The truck, a 2021 Freightliner, was equipped with Detroit Assurance 5.0 — a collision mitigation system designed to detect obstacles in the road and automatically brake if the driver fails to react.
According to the lawsuit, Wilkinson was allegedly inattentive to the road and failed to see the disabled Sprinter van. Additionally, the Detroit Assurance system in his vehicle failed to warn the driver or activate the brakes, the lawsuit claimed. As a result, the CRST tractor-trailer slammed into the overturned van without braking, causing a catastrophic secondary collision.
At the moment of impact, Stone was still inside the Sprinter van, trying to escape. The collision’s force was immense, ejecting the star from the vehicle and pinning her beneath it. She remained conscious and trapped under the wreckage before ultimately succumbing to her injuries, according to the suit.
Now, the family of Stone is pursuing legal action against multiple parties, including the transportation companies, the van driver, the tractor-trailer driver, and the manufacturers of the Detroit Assurance 5.0 system—Daimler Truck North America LLC and Detroit Diesel Corporation.
The lawsuit alleges negligence on several fronts: from the hiring and oversight of the van driver, to the tractor-trailer driver’s failure to maintain proper awareness, and the apparent malfunction of the collision avoidance system designed to prevent this type of tragedy.
Stone’s family is seeking compensation for medical expenses, legal fees, damages, and any other relief the court finds appropriate.
