The estate of a man who died after he was struck by a City and Borough of Juneau-owned truck has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the employee driving the vehicle.
The lawsuit filed earlier this month is about Armando Sanchez, a 38-year-old Skagway man who died in a Seattle hospital nearly two years ago after a city employee struck him as he was in the drive-through lane of a bank in the Mendenhall Valley.
The incident happened shortly before 5 a.m. on June 1, 2024, at True North Federal Credit Union on Postal Way. The lawsuit alleges that the city employee was negligent in several ways while driving the vehicle that struck Sanchez.
According to the lawsuit, Sanchez was in “excellent health” when the incident occurred. According to a police press release following the incident, Sanchez was lying in the road before he was struck, but sat up and talked immediately afterward and had some abrasions on his back. He was brought to Bartlett Regional Hospital that day and was later medevaced to Seattle for further treatment. He died nine days later. The lawsuit alleges his death resulted from the injuries suffered in the incident.
In the lawsuit, Sanchez’s estate is seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for the cost of medical and funeral expenses, loss of income and the emotional impacts resulting from his death.
Juneau’s Deputy City Attorney, Sherri Layne, said the city plans to file a response to the lawsuit next week. She said the city conducted an internal investigation of the incident in 2024 and that the employee named in the lawsuit has since died.
The attorney representing Sanchez’s estate did not immediately respond to KTOO’s request seeking comment.
