Jury set in cop's crash suit

YOUNGSTOWN - A jury was selected late Tuesday afternoon to hear a civil case involving a former Austintown police officer suing the Ford Motor Co.

Opening arguments are expected to begin this morning before visiting Judge Thomas Patrick Curran to hear the lawsuit filed by former patrolman Ross Linert against Ford.

Earlier, 85 people were crammed into the courtroom of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge James Evans to be winnowed down to eight to hear the case.

Evans' courtroom was being used because it is one of the largest in the courthouse.

Curran had hoped to begin opening arguments Tuesday afternoon but was still bogged down in jury selection.

Linert is seeking damages from Ford because of burns he sustained in November 2007 when the gas tank of his Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser erupted when the cruiser was rammed from behind on Meridan Road by a car going almost 100 miles per hour.

He suffered severe burns while escaping the fiery cruiser. He spent several months in the burn unit at Akron Children's Hospital before returning home to recover. He has not been able to work since the accident.

Potential jurors were asked if they believed in a fireproof or leakproof gas tank and that if a gas tank burst into flames after a rear-end collision in which one of the vehicles was traveling at ''highway speed,'' if it must be defective.

Ford plans to show jurors a fuel tank, according to a list of exhibits company attorneys submitted Tuesday. They also want to show the jury drawings and engineering specifications of a fuel tank and a fuel tank support system, charts of crash test results from the side, rear and front of a Crown Victoria and crash tests of Chevrolet Impalas and Caprices as well as a Dodge Intrepid, similar cars and evaluations of the Crown Victoria done by the Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The woman who hit Linert, 26-year-old Adrien Foutz of Girard, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated vehicular assault and served 18 months of a 2-year prison before being released on judicial release. Linert settled with Foutz Monday. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Curran told jurors to expect the trial to last three weeks.

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