The family of a popular Hillcrest High School science teacher who was killed in a crash that happened after school on Jan. 5, 2024, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon on April 23.
Jennifer Bryant, 45, was driving a 2022 Toyota Sienna on Interstate Highway 44 when her vehicle was struck by an oncoming tractor-trailer driven by 32-year-old Bashir Mohamed between the U.S. Highway 65 and Glenstone Avenue interchanges. The tractor-trailer, according to Springfield police, exited the westbound lanes of traffic, went through the median and the cables designed to reduce crossover accidents, and hit Bryant's vehicle.
Bryant died at the scene of the wreck.
According to the lawsuit, Mohamed's truck-tractor was pulling an Amazon trailer, making a delivery for Amazon and was acting under Amazon’s authority at the time of the crash.
“At the time Mohamed ran off the roadway, traveled in the wrong direction of I-44, and crashed into Jennifer Bryant, Mohamed was driving fatigued and/or asleep and/or while distracted. At said time, Mohamed was driving in a condition in which he knew or should have known he was unsafe to be on the roadway,” Bryant's family’s attorney wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Amazon and BIHI Transport should have known of Mohamed’s “lack of fitness to drive, his propensity to drive distracted and dangerously, and knew or should have known of the dangerous proclivities in Mohamed’s driving behavior.”
In addition to Mohamed and Amazon, the lawsuit also names BIHI Transport, LLC.; the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission; and Abdullahi Sharifsahal as defendants.
Bryant worked as a science teacher at Hillcrest High School for 20 years. She taught regular and honors classes on biology and physics, as well as Advanced Placement biology.
The Daily Citizen reached out to Amazon for comment but has not yet received a response.
