Family of a Missouri woman who died in a “wheezing” accident settled for $745 million in lawsuit

A Missouri jury awarded $745 million to the family of a woman who officials said was killed when an SUV driver accused of snorting nitrous oxide canisters passed out and hit her, news outlets reported.

Marissa Politte was 25 years old when she died, Ballwin police said in a news release. She had just returned from work at an emergency room in suburban St. Louis on Oct. 18, 2020, when she was struck by an SUV on the sidewalk, KMOV reported, citing a lawsuit filed by the family.

The lawsuit says the driver of the SUV, Trenton Geiger, used Whip-It! According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he died from nitrous oxide before the crash and then passed out.

Investigators say that after the crash, Geiger used the Whip-It! Containers taken into the woods to dispose of evidence, the outlet reported.

McClatchy News reached out to Geiger’s attorney for comment on Sept. 11 but did not immediately receive a response.

Politte died as a result of her injuries, police said. The family says that according to KSDK, United Brands Corporation, the company that owns Whip-It! distributes, and Coughing Cardinal LLC, a smoke shop, is responsible for it.

The family blames Whip-It! The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that he sold his products to Coughing Cardinal LLC because he knew customers would buy them to use illegally and get high.

“Marissa Politte should be the last, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but my God, it should be the last,” Politte’s family attorney Johnny Simon told KMOV.

McClatchy News reached out to United Brands and Coughing Cardinal LLC on Sept. 11 but did not immediately receive a response.

During the trial, United Brands’ lawyers said the product’s warnings about inhalation hazards were ignored, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“United Brands has been marketing and selling nitrous oxide (a food leavening agent) for decades to places like Coughing Cardinal (a head shop that sells drug paraphernalia) that simply have no business selling this addictive drug,” the law firm said in a statement Simon.

The Whip It! The product sold at Coughing Cardinal LLC is known as “Whippets” and is used as a nitrous oxide charger, KMOV reported.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, people inhale nitrous oxide from the chargers, which can cause users to faint, get headaches and feel dizzy and nauseous.

In addition to the canisters Geiger is said to have thrown in the woods, police said they found a used Whip-It! found. near the driver’s seat and “several unused cartridges,” according to KMOV.

“Each of them makes 16 ounces of whipped cream. So even if they had plausible reasons for selling, which they don’t, that’s… a lot of whipped cream for a store that doesn’t sell groceries,” Simon said, according to KSDK.

Court documents show the jury found United Brands 70% guilty, Coughing Cardinal 20% guilty and Geiger 10% guilty, KSDK reported.

According to court records, Geiger pleaded guilty March 6 to involuntary manslaughter, possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

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