Lawsuit: Driver’s diet contributed to pedestrian’s death

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A lawsuit filed by the estate of a woman run over and killed in a grocery store parking lot says the driver’s diet was partly to blame.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Susan Matthies was loading groceries into her car in the parking lot of the Safeway in Dallas, in Polk County, in September 2017 when she was struck and killed by driver Richard Morgan. The lawsuit says Morgan felt lightheaded and was on the Whole 30 diet, which doesn’t allow dieters to consume milk, cheese, sugar, bread, legumes or alcohol for 30 days.

Morgan was not charged criminally. Polk County District Attorney Aaron Felton said the evidence didn’t show that Morgan was intoxicated or criminally negligent, though it did indicate he was dieting.

Matthies was 68. The lawsuit seeks $3.5 million.