toledoblade.com --

A flying red bra might make heads turn, but it shouldn't cause a car to flip over.

So says Terry Davis, the father of the 17-year-old girl from Bowling Green whose dog-chewed red bra flew off a car antenna, leading to a rollover accident on I-75 last month.

Nevertheless, one of two Toledo men injured in the Sept. 26 crash filed a civil suit yesterday in Wood County Common Pleas Court against Mr. Davis' daughter, Emily, and three other teenage girls.

The suit alleges that her flying bra forced 37-year-old James Campbell to take evasive action with his 2006 Dodge Neon, causing him to lose control and roll over multiple times in the grassy median.

Mr. Campbell was thrown from the vehicle and flown by medical helicopter to Toledo Hospital, where he was treated for a broken vertebra in his neck and a fractured thumb. His passenger, 40-year-old Jeff Long, also was injured and was treated at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Named as defendants in Mr. Campbell's civil suit are Miss Davis; Tabitha Adams, 17, also of Bowling Green and the driver of the other car; Angelia Church, 17, of Northwood, and a fourth passenger who has been iden-tified thus far only as "Robin S." Mr. Campbell alleges in his suit that the girls were speeding, failed to maintain reasonable control of their vehicle, failed to operate their vehicle in a safe manner, knowingly dropped upon the highway articles which may damage or injure other persons and motor vehicles, and fled the scene of the crash.

So far, a Wood County prosecutor of juveniles has indicated only that Miss Davis could be charged with littering as soon as next week.

"I don't see how a common piece of cloth would cause a car to go off the road," Mr. Davis said. "I've driven over several objects that were much heavier than a bra, and none of them ever forced me off the road."

Mr. Campbell, who is being represented by attorney Jack Fynes of the Toledo law firm of Shumaker, Loop, and Kendrick, LLP, is seeking in excess of $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants.

The case has been assigned to Judge Reeve Kelsey.

Mr. Long, who sustained two broken ribs, is in the process of retaining his own attorney in the matter.

According to the 24-page OHP crash report, witnesses said the girls were driving between 65 and 70 miles per hour at the time of the accident. Some also said they saw the girls lift their shirts up shortly before Miss Davis admittedly hung her bra on the car antenna.

The girls gave conflicting statements about whether or not anyone lifted their shirts up, but all claimed Mr. Campbell and Mr. Long were encouraging them to engage in lewd behavior.

"The bottom line is … they were hanging or throwing things out the window that my client had to attempt to avoid," Mr. Fynes said. "My client has repeatedly denied asking the girls to do anything, but I don't think that issue makes a difference at all."

The girls told troopers they knew Mr. Campbell's vehicle had rolled over and that someone may have been ejected, but they continued driving northbound on I-75 and exited the highway at U.S. 20 in Perrysburg.

According to the OHP report, they pulled into a Bob Evans restaurant and called the driver's mother, who reportedly told them not to return to the scene of the accident because there would be too much traffic on the highway.

Mr. Davis said he was not defending what Emily and the other girls in the car did, but he argued that their behavior was encouraged by two older, adult men who should have known better.

"What the girls did was stupid and juvenile, but I don't think it was anything to run off the road for."

Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com
or 419-410-5055.

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