Family of man killed in accident files lawsuit

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Korey Jordan at his graduation from Emmett O'Brien Technical High School in June 2011. Jordan was killed last Halloween in a car accident in Seymour. –CONTRIBUTED
Korey Jordan at his graduation from Emmett O’Brien Technical High School in June 2011. Jordan was killed last Halloween in a car accident in Seymour. –CONTRIBUTED

NAUGATUCK — The family of Korey Jordan, killed at age 19 in a car accident last Halloween in Seymour, is suing three others involved in the crash.

Jordan’s parents, Kenneth Jordan Sr. and Kimberly Barbera-Spencer, filed the lawsuit last month in Waterbury Superior Court, seeking at least $30,000 under a state law that allows the plaintiffs to claim double or triple damages in wrongful death suits involving certain motor vehicle violations.

Korey Jordan lived with his mother on Anderson Street.

Jordan was a passenger in a 1991 Honda Civic hatchback driven by Manuel Esteves of Seymour just after 1 a.m. on Oct. 31, according to the lawsuit. Joseph Feraca was racing them in a car owned by a Jordan Ballolli, according to the lawsuit, which names Esteves, Feraca and Ballolli as defendants.

Both cars were speeding northbound on South Main Street when Esteves lost control and crashed head-on into a utility pole, causing fatal injuries to Jordan, according to the lawsuit. Jordan was treated on the scene by Seymour ambulance personnel before he died at Waterbury Hospital.

Jordan’s parents claim he suffered conscious pain, fear of death, multiple fractures all over his body and hemorrhaging before he died.

The suit claims Korey Jordan died as a result of the three defendants’ negligence and recklessness.

Police have said Esteves, who was 20 at the time, had a blood-alcohol level of nearly eight times the state limit for someone under 21.

Jordan’s parents, who are co-administrators of his estate, had to pay medical, funeral and burial costs resulting from the crash, according to the suit.

Esteves was seriously injured in the crash and two passengers in the backseat also sustained minor injuries, according to police.

Esteves faces a criminal trial Aug. 1 in Derby Superior Court on charges of second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, reckless driving and driving under the influence under age 21. He is free on a $50,000 bond.

Korey Jordan was a graduate of Emmett O’Brien Technical High School in Ansonia, where he studied heating, ventilation and air conditioning and played football.