JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The family of a MoDOT worker killed on the job last November rallied protesters outside of the agency’s headquarter this morning, calling for answers about the deadly crash.
Kaitlyn Anderson and her unborn baby Jaxx died when a driver crashed into a MoDOT work zone on Telegraph Road near I-255 on November 18, 2021. James Brooks, also a MoDOT employee, died. A third worker was seriously injured.
“Where was the TMA,” chanted the crowd of about 25 people standing outside the Jefferson City building.
Anderson’s aunt Tabatha Moore helped organize the demonstration. She says that is one of the big questions family and friends want answered.
“Was it ill training, was it a lack of equipment, was it an oversight? What break down in training, knowledge and protocol happened,” said Moore.
According to the MoDOT website, TMAs, or truck-mounted attenuators, are like giant, crushable shock absorbers which absorb momentum and reduce the force of impact. There was no TMA visible at the scene of the crash.
Moore says she has read the Missouri Highway Patrol crash report which reveals the crash sent the MoDOT truck forward 3.7 feet. She believes if the TMA was in use, Kaitlyn, Jaxx, and James would still be alive.
“If the right equipment had been there, his car would have hit the TMA and that truck would have only rolled forward 3.7 feet, or less actually, because the TMA are much bigger and heavier trucks than they were working with that day and this would have been a non-injury accident,” she explained.
Spectrum News St. Louis reached out to MoDOT, which said it is not providing comments on this incident.
Proposed Legislation
Kaitlyn and Jaxx’s deaths have also launched a fight to change the law. Moore says six demonstrators handed out flyers to lawmakers at the state capitol Friday about Senate Bill 1188.
The proposed legislation aims to remove some of the indemnity from certain employers if they are found to be negligent by not following federal safety guidelines. The legislation also provides changes to workman’s compensation.
Anderson’s family is fighting for these changes, so others won’t suffer the same pain they did after their loss.
“This is about holding companies accountable in the future. This is about making it more fair for anyone else who has to go through this tragedy in the future,” Moore said.
Kaits Love for Jaxx
Kaitlyn’s family was so excited for Jaxx’s birth that gifts had already been piling up in three different houses. Kaitlyn had had three miscarriages and her family was ecstatic with her pregnancy. After their death, her family made sure something good could come from their loss.
Moore says they collected the gifts and donated them to the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, Jefferson County Family Services, and other mothers in need. Those efforts were a jumping off point for the non-for profit Kaits Loves for Jaxx.
Now the group continues to raise money to send care packages to grieving families and offer grief counseling. The group also hands out pregnancy medical bracelets so EMTs will know if a woman is pregnant when they can’t speak for themselves.
Kaits Love for Jaxx is holding a Slow Down and Move Over Walk on May 14. Registration is closed, but you can learn more about the organization at their website.