TV star faces lawsuit over deadly car crash

TRANSGENDER reality-TV star Bruce Jenner is being sued for wrongful death damages for a car crash in which a 69-year-old woman was killed, legal documents filed on Friday showed.

The stepchildren of the dead woman, Kim Howe, are seeking unspecified compensation following the accident in February that involved four cars on the Pacific Coast Highway in the Los Angeles metro area.

Jenner, a former Olympic decathlon champion, was “careless, negligent and/or otherwise responsible in causing the death of decedent”, said the lawsuit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday.

He was unharmed after the collision. He was driving anSUV when he collided with a smaller white car that swerved into oncoming traffic, the TMZ celebrity news website reported.

TMZ, which first reported the lawsuit, said the LA County Sheriff’s department was still investigating the crash, but cited sources as saying a criminal prosecution was unlikely.

Jenner was pictured at the scene in sunglasses and a baseball cap with no obvious injuries and was driven away in a police car after the accident.

Jenner became an American sports hero when he set a world record with his decathlon victory at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

But it was through his marriage to the former Kris Kardashian that he once again became a household name with the reality-TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, in which he appeared as the sometimes bemused stepfather of her flamboyant brood.

The couple married in 1991 and have two daughters together, Kendall and Kylie. Bruce and Kris are recently divorced.

Jenner won praise from celebrities and activists last month for revealing he is transitioning from male to female, ending long-running speculation that he identifies as a woman. In a two-hour TV interview with Diane Sawyer, the 65-year-old said he had wrestled with his sexual identity since he was a child. — AFP