Sedgwick County approves $300,000 settlement in 2020 crash that killed mom, 4 children

Sedgwick County commissioners have approved a $300,000 settlement in connection with a 2020 accident that killed a woman and four children.

The crash happened shortly before 5 p.m. Sept. 25, 2020. Jessica Noel, 32, of Viola, was heading south on 263rd Street West between Cheney and Clearwater in her Ford Expedition. Her four children were in the SUV as well, a county news release said.

The driver of a semitrailer loaded with grain was headed east on 71st Street South, ran a stop sign and struck the SUV, according to the news release.

Noel and three children, Jeffrey Thompson III, 4; Aniah Brady, 10; and 4-month-old Hank Thompson died at the scene of the crash. Mack Thompson, 23 months, died later at a hospital.

Noel’s husband, Jeffrey Williams, and the paternal grandparents of Aniah Brady both filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the truck driver, Andrew Specht, and Wellington-based L.B. White Trucking Inc.

Williams’ lawsuit was resolved in March 2021. The lawsuit filed by the grandparents was resolved in May 2021. All parties involved “reached a full and final confidential settlement,” a dismissal journal entry read in the grandparents’ case.

The county’s involvement in the case “involved the issue of the removal of rumble strips and whether they should have been there to possibly prevent the accident,” county communications specialist Nicole Gibbs said in an email.

“Sedgwick County respects the legal process and has agreed to settle the claim; working with the family to reach an amicable settlement,” the release said.

Contributing: Michael Stavola of The Wichita Eagle