A sandbag dropped from a Toledo bridge killed a passenger on Interstate 75, and his mother later won an appeals court ruling holding Ohio responsible. That victory has now been overturned: the Ohio Supreme Court ordered her wrongful-death lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Transportation dismissed on October 6, 2026.
The case centered on a bridge under reconstruction, where protective fencing had been removed from one side while traffic continued below. The sandbags used to hold construction signs and barricades in place were accessible on the overpass.
Marquise Shawndell Byrd was fatally injured on December 19, 2017. His mother, Patricia Wilkes, sued on behalf of his estate in January 2019, arguing that ODOT had failed to remove or reduce dangerous conditions along the interstate…