Fellow cyclists mourn Kevin Black in February at a memorial set up along 24th Avenue Northwest. Black was killed Feb. 4 after a collision with a van. His family has filed a civil action against the driver for wrongful death.
On Sept. 3, the family of Kevin Black, a University of Washington scientist who was killed on Feb. 4 while bicycling to work, filed a civil action against the driver whose Ford E250 van struck him, according to a release from the lawyer representing the Black family.
Black, 39, was riding in the bike lane in the 6400 block of 24th Avenue Northwest in Ballard when the van’s driver attempted a U-turn into the path of his bicycle.
The suit against Jonnie Lynn Wilbur of Gig Harbor seeks damages on behalf of Black’s family, including his two daughters, ages 13 and 10.
“Mr. Black was a respected and popular molecular researcher, and an avid cyclist,” said the family's attorney, James S. Rogers.
Rogers said the suit is being filed at this time because the police investigation just recently concluded.
He said, according to the investigation report, police found negligence on the part of the Wilbur, who was making a U-turn on a street that is not meant to accommodate them.
In the days following Black’s death, friends, family members and fellow bicyclists erected a shrine and held a vigil near the scene of the collision.
