An 18-Year-Old Stepped Off the Hearne Avenue Bridge on a Dark, Rainy Night and Was Hit by a Taxi Leased for the Day for $85. He Never Walked or Talked Again. A Caddo Parish Jury Returned $6.34 Million.
After trial: Reduced by the jury's own fault allocation. The $6,341,479 verdict of August 7, 2025 carried 30 percent of the fault to the driver and 30 percent to VIP Taxi, so under Louisiana's comparative-fault regime $3,804,887.40 is the recoverable share, and that is the figure ranked here. The Louisiana Jury Verdict Reporter reported that no final judgment had been entered as of its September 2025 issue, and no appeal has been confirmed; the verdict is recent and post-trial motions could still move it. A $2,326,413 figure sometimes attached to this case is the survival-claim component only. Collectability: no source reports payment, so the disclosure stays at not public. Attribution: Patrick R. Jackson, APLC has no website and is a record-only entry here with no profile page; Kyle McCotter now practises under his own name at the same Bossier City address.
Won by Patrick R. Jackson, APLC.
On the dark, rainy evening of January 13, 2020 Daffacio Randall, 18, was crossing on foot at the Hearne Avenue bridge in west Shreveport when a taxi hit him. He suffered a broken arm, a lacerated liver and kidney, two collapsed lungs and a severe brain bleed that needed an emergency craniotomy that night. He never walked or talked again and died of an infection on October 10, 2020. On August 7, 2025 a Caddo Parish jury awarded his parents $6,341,479 and assessed 30 percent of the fault to the driver and 30 percent to VIP Taxi, leaving $3,804,887.40 recoverable.
What happened
Daffacio Randall, known as Boss, was 18. On the evening of January 13, 2020 he and his cousin were walking in west Shreveport, crossing at the Hearne Avenue bridge over Ernest Miller Road. It was dark and raining. His cousin made it across. As Randall stepped into the road he was struck by a passing taxi, a 2004 Crown Victoria that its driver, Patricia McKenzie, had leased for the day for $85.
He had a broken arm, a lacerated liver and kidney, both lungs collapsed, and a severe brain bleed. Surgeons performed an emergency craniotomy that night to save his life. He was left with a permanent tracheostomy and feeding tube and remained in a vegetative state. He never walked or talked again, though his nurses said he would sometimes squeeze a hand in answer to a question. Three weeks in the hospital, seven months in an acute-care center, a month in a nursing home. His parents visited every day through the COVID-era restrictions, and on the Fourth of July they celebrated with a cake and candles outside his window. He died on October 10, 2020 of a persistent infection.
His parents, Roshaunda Randall and Santino Ellis, sued McKenzie and her insurer, the taxi company, VIP Taxi, and a set of related holding companies they alleged were the company's alter egos. The claims against McKenzie were failing to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians and running the red light on the approach to the bridge, which she denied; the claims against VIP Taxi were negligent hiring and entrustment.
The case was tried in the First Judicial District Court in Caddo Parish, No. 626,733, before Judge Ramon Lafitte. On August 7, 2025 the jury returned $6,341,479 in survival and wrongful-death damages and assessed 30 percent of the fault to McKenzie and 30 percent to VIP Taxi, with the remaining 40 percent to Randall himself. Sixty percent of the verdict, $3,804,887.40, is recoverable from the defendants.
Kyle McCotter, Patrick R. Jackson and William L. Stroud of Bossier City tried the case for the family. Paul D. Oberle of Richie Richie & Oberle defended McKenzie and her insurer, P.M. Donovan of Donovan & Lawler defended VIP Taxi, and Mary E. Winchell defended the holding-company defendants.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Louisiana Jury Verdict Reporter, September 2025 (16 LaJVR 9): Randall v. McKenzie et al., No. 626733, Caddo Parish, Judge Ramon Lafitte, verdict August 7, 2025; the January 13, 2020 crash at the Hearne Avenue bridge, the injuries, the craniotomy, the vegetative state and the October 10, 2020 death; the parents as plaintiffs; the claims; the $6,341,479 verdict assessed 30 percent to McKenzie and 30 percent to VIP Taxi; and counsel Kyle McCotter, Patrick R. Jackson and William L. Stroud of Bossier City for the plaintiff, with Paul D. Oberle, P.M. Donovan and Mary E. Winchell for the defendants
- 2.Louisiana Second Circuit writ disposition, No. 55,942-CW: the First Judicial District Court, Caddo Parish, No. 626,733, the caption naming Roshaunda Randall and Santino Ellis individually and on behalf of the estate, and Kyle McCotter of Patrick R. Jackson, APLC as counsel
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