Jury finds ladder truck maker, Kilgore Fire Department guilty in firefighters death

Jurors in Longview found the maker of a ladder truck from which two firefighters fatally fell — and the Kilgore Fire Department — equally at fault for the 2009 training exercise deaths.

Wrapping up an eight-day wrongful death suit, the panel reviewed the case brought by the family of Kilgore firefighter Kyle Perkins four hours before awarding more than $800,000 in damages.

The finding that Perkins’ department was half to blame for the fatal accident, which also took the life of fireman Cory Galloway, means all but $192,500 awarded as punitive damages will be cut in half.

Read more here at the Longview-News-Journal. [1]