It has been more than two years since Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died when he fell from the back of a pickup truck driven by his fiancee.
There are still issues stemming from the tragedy, however. Henry’s estate has filed a lawsuit accusing Loleini Tonga of negligence that led to his death. According to the suit, Tonga knew that Henry was standing on the truck bed and pounding on the roof telling her to stop. The suit alleges that her negligent driving caused Henry to be thrown from the bed of the truck. Henry had jumped on the bed when Tonga drove away following an argument between the couple in Charlotte on December 16th, 2009.
Tonga was not charged by the police after the incident. The lawyer for the estate said that does not mean she isn’t “civilly liable” for his death. Tonga did not respond to the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s request for comment.
Tonga’s mother, the owner of the truck, is also being targeted in the suit, which seeks more than $10,000 in damages. The lawyer for the estate told the Enquirer that the goal of the suit is not to take money away from Tonga, though. They want to collect money from auto insurance companies that covered Tonga and her mother. The three children Tonga and Henry had together, who lost “have lost the reasonably expected net income that he would have provided as a player in the National Football League,” would be the beneficiaries.