The mother of a woman killed in a 2021 crash while riding in a car driven by former Washington football player Deshazor Everett in Loudoun County, Virginia, has filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against Everett, two current Washington players and a friend.
The filing by Kathleen Peters nearly two years after the Dec. 23, 2021 crash that killed her 29-year-old daughter, Olivia Peters, names Everett, Jamin Davis and Benjamin St-Juste of the Washington Commanders, as well as a mutual friend, auto shop owner Shadidul Islam.
Olivia Peters grew up in Rockville, Maryland, and was Everett’s fiancée at the time of the crash. She was an occupational therapist who established and operated two pediatric therapy practices — one in Las Vegas, and the other in New York City — devoted to treating children with special needs, according to court documents.
On the evening of Dec. 23, 2021, all of the defendants “were aware that they were driving recklessly, were speeding and racing their cars on the public highways of Loudoun County and they were aware that such conduct was illegal,” the documents said.
Of the four, only Everett faced criminal charges, initially being charged with involuntary manslaughter in February of 2022. Everett was dropped by the Commanders a month later.
The felony charge was eventually reduced to a reckless driving misdemeanor, partially in consideration of the wishes of the Peters family. Everett pleaded guilty and was ultimately sentenced to 12 months in jail with nine months suspended. He was allowed to serve out his time on house arrest.
In July, Everett spoke to WTOP about his crash and premiered a court-ordered PSA aimed at encouraging safer driving.
Peters’ lawsuit claims Everett and his friends were texting and talking about racing before and during their travels on the night of the crash. According to the lawsuit, Everett, Davis and St-Juste met at Islam’s auto shop hours before the crash, with plans to race.
At one point in the evening, when discussing his car, the lawsuit claims Everett said, “I told them it was fast, but they didn’t believe me. So, I was just trying to go out and show them.”
At another point, Everett said he was going to “spin that b—,” referring to his car. According to the lawsuit, Islam responded, “Yeah, spin it into a tree.”
“Everett, while speeding and driving recklessly, suddenly lost control of his car and swerved into the right lane of traffic, turned perpendicular, and then skidded off the road. As the car skidded through a grassy area at a high rate of speed, it flipped violently and repeatedly into a wooded area where it finally came to rest on its side after striking a tree more than 200 feet from the road,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit alleges that Everett was driving more than double the legal speed limit at the time of the crash and that his vehicle was equipped with an illegal nitrous oxide turbocharging formula.
However, during Everett’s criminal trial, prosecutors said readings from the car’s “black box” data recorder, as well as an interview with a witness who saw Everett’s vehicle traveling only slightly above the speed limit, would make it difficult to gain a conviction to involuntary manslaughter.
Davis is set to stand trial for a separate reckless driving charge in March 2024 after appealing a conviction for “driving 114 mph in a 45 mph zone on Loudoun County Parkway.”
Contacted by WTOP, Kaveh Noorishad, Everett’s attorney in his criminal trial, said that “at this time, Mr. Everett and I have no comment.”
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