Colorado Springs mom fights for justice one year after son killed in crash at work

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The mom of a man who was killed on the job is now fighting to change workers compensation laws that prevent you from suing your employer.

Jean Houston is making it her mission to try and make sure no other family has to go through what she endured when her son, Stephen Houston, died after crashing his District 20 work truck last February -- the street sander flying through the back window and killing him on impact.

"It's not about the money, it's holding the employer responsible," she told KRDO.

Despite the investigation concluding Stephen was speeding, Jean believes his employer is at fault, since detectives also said there was too much sand inside the truck and no extra safety precautions to prevent Stephen's injuries.

"The accident was survivable but for the improperly mounted equipment," Houston said.

During our previous coverage at the time of the crash, District 20 said there's debate over the effectiveness of optional "headache racks," the most common equipment used to prevent what happened to Stephen.

Still, Houston is working with local legislators to rid the system of loopholes that protect schools from lawsuits in certain situations like Stephen's.

Houston also wants to increase the amount of money families are compensated funeral expenses when something like this happens. It's been capped at seven thousand dollars for years, and she thinks it's time that amount goes up because of inflation.

"I have no qualms with saying I think they need to increase it to ten thousand dollars easily," Houston said. "And I don't think anybody in this day and age would fight me on that, except for workers compensation."

We reached out to District 20 Sunday night for a response to Jean Houston's efforts, but we're still waiting to hear back.