Florida family files lawsuit against Venus Williams over fatal car crash

One of the all-time greats of women's tennis, Venus Williams is now facing a lawsuit from the family of the 78-year-old man who was die in a car crash in Florida.

Attorney Michael Steinger, representing the family of the victim, said that they would file a wrongful death suit against Williams for the June 9 crash.

"At this point we are attempting to both preserve the evidence and gain access to evidence," Sport24 quoted Steinger as saying in a program.

"There were video cameras placed at guard houses where Ms. Williams lives, police have refused after multiple requests to turn those over to us, and we would like to see visual portrayal of the accident on those videos," he added.

As per the report filed by the police, Venus slowed down in the middle of an intersection when her vehicle was hit by a car driven by the man's 68-year-old wife on June 9 in Palm Beach Gardens, a small city north of Miami.

The driver's husband suffered a head injury in the accident and died two weeks later on June 22 at the hospital.

According to a local newspaper, the driver's husband suffered head trauma and was hospitalised in intensive care prior to his death.

The police also informed that the 37-year-old tennis star was not using her phone and had not taken drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.

Venus, winner of seven Grand Slam championships, told the police that she drove into the intersection after exiting from another street on a green light, but stopped at the median break to wait for cross-traffic to clear, then proceeded without seeing Barson.

The victim's wife went to the hospital with broken bones and other injuries. The Palm Beach Gardens Police's report has described Williams as being "at fault" in the incident.

The accident remains under investigation and she has not been charged with an offence.

Also on Friday, Williams' publicist said that she would compete at Wimbledon beginning Sunday.

-ANI