All 17-year-old Lucas Bradshaw wants is to get back on the baseball field.
But a traffic accident last year left the high school student with severe brain injuries, putting that dream on hold and starting him instead on a long road to recovery.
Lucas Bradshaw, then 16, was traveling with his team to a baseball game on May 8, 2025, when their bus was struck by a box truck driven by Shawn Akison, 42, who was traveling at 73 mph and under the influence of fentanyl, according to the LaPorte County, Indiana, sheriff’s department.
Akison, of Romeoville, was making Amazon deliveries at the time of the crash and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Akison pleaded guilty to causing catastrophic injury when operating a motor vehicle while under the influence and causing serious bodily harm while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, police said.
But Bradshaw’s family says the driver wasn’t the only one responsible.
A lawsuit filed last week in LaPorte County Superior Court, is accusing Amazon and other defendants of negligence for failing to remove Akison as a driver. The lawsuit claims Akison had a history of reckless driving and drug use.
“This isn’t just Lucas’ story, this is about everybody,” Bradley Bradshaw, Lucas’ father, said Thursday morning at a news conference at a Loop law firm. “If these are controllable things that don’t need to happen, let’s make some changes.”
Bradshaw, a volunteer coach, was driving the bus the day of the crash. He was pulling up to a stop light and when he looked at the rearview mirror, he realized they were seconds away from being hit.
“Every time I look in a rearview mirror, I see the truck,” Bradshaw said. “It’s one thing I’m never going to get out of my mind.”
Besides Lucas and his father, four other players and another coach were on the bus. Most were injured. But Lucas Bradshaw was the most seriously hurt. He was ejected from the bus, landing several feet away, unconscious.
He was airlifted to a hospital and treated for a several serious injuries. Among them: a traumatic brain injury, multiple brain bleeds, multiple facial fractures and a fractured arm. He was in a coma for about 60 days and was hospitalized and in intense therapies for more than 125 days, his family said.
More than a year later, Lucas continues working to recover. Vision is still affected in his left eye. He walks differently and can be slow to respond in conversations.
“If you were to watch him, his gait, how he walks, you might say that he had a stroke,” said Kelly Bradshaw, Lucas’ mother.
The crash changed nearly every part of Lucas Bradshaw’s life. He missed his junior year of high school, stepped away from baseball and could no longer lend a hand on his family’s Indiana farm.
The lawsuit names Amazon, Elite Courier, Enterprise Leasing Company, Akison and St. Joseph County, Indiana, as defendants. Akison was contracted through Elite Courier, hauling Amazon deliveries when the crash occurred.
Amazon has argued Akison was not an employee of the company.
“This was a tragedy, and our hearts are with the families affected as they recover and the entire LaPorte County community. Given this is active litigation, we have no further comment,” Amazon said in a statement.
But labels don’t matter, said Nick Kamenjarin, an attorney representing the family.
“What matters is the control,” he said. “Amazon controlled virtually every aspect of Mr. Akison’s job. They monitored his performance, his safety, and they retained the authority to suspend him from the program, as well as terminating from the program.”
Kamenjarin said Amazon contracted with Elite Courier and provided Akison access to the company’s driver app, which is used to assign routes, coordinate pickups and track drivers’ locations.
St. Joseph County is being sued because Akison was driving there before the crash. The lawsuit alleges a county police officer tried to pull Akison over after receiving reports of his erratic driving but ended the pursuit when Akison crossed the county line. The crash occurred shortly thereafter. The lawsuit also alleges St. Joseph County officials never notified LaPorte County that Akison had entered its jurisdiction or that his driving posed a potential threat.
St. Joseph County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lucas Bradshaw will return to in-person classes for his senior year this fall, his parents said, and also hopes to playing baseball and help with the crops at the farm eventually, as well.
Despite all of their struggles, the family said they were grateful for the community’s support.
“We cannot thank our community enough,” Bradley Bradshaw said. “It wasn’t just our family fighting the fight. It was a community fight. It’s been Team Lucas all the way.”