Opinion ID: 2407465
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: End of adopted statement.)

Text: In adopting such part of plaintiff's statement of facts the defendant administratrix added the following, which we will consider as additional agreed facts. Additionally, the trooper found a white, 1958 Chevrolet at the northeast corner of the intersection partially upside down against a steel highway marker with the front end of the Chevrolet facing west. (135) Leonard Judkins was on the ground just at the north edge of the top of the car. (135) Neither of the two male subjects pinned in the Chevrolet were directly behind the wheel. (175) The Prosecuting Attorney of Andrew County, Alden Lance, did not find anybody in the Chevrolet sitting up behind the steering wheel. (185) In addition to such adopted or agreed facts twenty-seven photographs were received in evidence, without objection by administratrix Judkins, in a pretrial hearing held by the court prior to the voir dire examination of the jurors. Six of these pictures were taken on the night of the collision at the direction and request of Prosecuting Attorney Lance by a member of the Highway Patrol and vividly showed many of the cold hard facts of the case especially with reference to the skid marks, place of impact, damage to and location of the tractor-trailer after collision and before it had been moved, damage to the Chevrolet and its position after it had been turned back on its wheels and a multiplicity of other facts. Six of the other pictures were close-up views of the vehicles after removal from the scene while the fifteen remaining photographs were various views of the scene, roads and general area taken in daylight. We will not attempt to describe such photographs here but since the same were in evidence we will allude to the facts shown and the inferences that could reasonably be drawn therefrom as the occasion arises. In her points relied on the Administratrix first states that The Trial Court did not err in sustaining defendant Judkins' motion for directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's case in chief because no jury question had been made as to the identity of the driver of the Chevrolet   . In addition to the summary data set forth in the adopted Statement of Facts supra, trooper Matthews testified without objection, The deceased males I learned were James Albert Judkins, age 21 of St. Joseph, Missouri, and Bernard Raymond Hughes, age 18, of St. Joseph, Missouri. The injured boy was Leonard Fred Judkins, age 20, of St. Joseph, Missouri. He further testified, again without objection, The injured Mr. Judkins was on the ground just at the north edge of the top of the car. The deceased who was identified as Bernard Raymond Hughes, age 18, of St. Joseph, was on the passenger side of the right front seat and the deceased person who was identified as James Albert Judkins, age 21, of St. Joseph, was on the left side of the front seat closest to the steering wheel. In addition, Prosecuting Attorney Lance, who took James Judkins' body from the car, stated that he remembered specifically that the body was in the front seat on the side where the driver would normally sit, if you could say there was a front seat left. Later on cross-examination Mr. Lance stated:    I didn't find anybody sitting up behind the steering wheel, no. Both boysone was to the rightthe Hughes boy, and the Judkins boy under it. His body was jammed down under the steering wheel in that area. Q Under the dashboard? A Yes, sir. Coroner Wayne Maxwell, called to the scene, stated that he viewed two males, deceased, in an automobile; that the cause of death of Raymond Hughes was massive cerebral trauma    He had massive skull fractures. The whole skull was crushed. Defendant Judkins further argued that There was no testimony in the record as to the position Leonard Judkins occupied in the vehicle and the inference is just as strong that being found outside on the north side of the wrecked Chevrolet he could also have been the driver of the vehicle, especially since the entire left side of the vehicle was ripped open. Five photographs of the Chevrolet taken from various angles were discussed and described in the testimony of Trooper Matthews. These clearly showed the nature of the extensive damage to the left front and side of the Chevrolet. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to accurately describe in a written opinion the full extent of the damage to the Chevrolet, and would unduly prolong this opinion to attempt to do so. However, we have closely examined such photographs, especially the views showing the front and left side of that Chevrolet, which showed crushing damage toward the steering wheel and driver's seat. The very nature of such damage, so clearly shown in the photographs, were such that a jury could well infer, find and conclude that a driver of the car seated in the usual driver's position behind the steering wheel could not possibly have been thrown out of the car in a forward direction. The same photographs clearly showed that the metal top of the Chevrolet was torn back and upward in such manner as to leave a wide aperture from the rear seat forward. The jury could, if permitted, have found that opening in the top of the car was of such size, kind and character as to warrant, if not compel, the conclusion that only a person riding in the rear seat of such two door Chevrolet could have been thrown forward out of that car and toward the front of such Chevrolet. We are of the considered opinion that the evidence in this case was sufficient to permit submission to the jury of the issue as to whether James A. Judkins, deceased, had been driving the Chevrolet at the time of the fatal collision. (See Fellows v. Farmer, Mo.App., 379 S.W.2d 842, and cases therein cited, wherein the Springfield Court of Appeals reached a similar conclusion largely from the position of bodies in a wreck fatally injuring driver and passenger.)