04-06-2025
SCDOT settles lawsuit over missing guardrail with family of teen killed in 2021 crash
SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Parents of an Upstate teen killed in a 2021 crash have settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the South Carolina Department of Transportation over a missing guardrail which they claimed contributed to the crash.
16-year-old Kolson Elliott died April 27, 2021 when the car he was driving ran off of Drayton Road while trying to avoid a collision, down an embankment, and into Lawsons Fork Creek.
The lawsuit stated that the bridge over Lawsons Fork Creek did not have guardrails to protect from a vehicle going down the embankment as required by South Carolina law. The suit also claimed that the SCDOT was aware for years prior to the crash that the bridge was not up to safety standards.
Elliott was not seriously injured in the crash but drowned in the creek, the lawsuit went on to say.
He was a 10th grade student and basketball player at Boiling Springs High School at the time of his death.
According to court documents filed Tuesday, SCDOT will pay $350,000 the family of Kolson Elliott to settle the suit.
Elliot's family previously received $750,000 as part of a separate wrongful death lawsuit settlement in 2022.
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