WILMETTE - Attorneys have gotten $3.5 million for the family of a Southern Illinois University Carbondale student journalist killed in a car accident south of Nashville in April.

Ryan Rendleman, 22, of Batavia was traveling to an assignment for campus newspaper, The Daily Egyptian, April 29 when he was reportedly rear-ended by a semi belonging to Effingham Equity and driven by Kevin Morrison while stopped at a road construction site on Illinois 127.

Clifford Law Offices, who represented Rendleman's family, said Morrison admitted he was tuning the truck's radio immediately prior to the crash.

"This terrible tragedy demonstrates the critical importance of paying attention on the road, especially when there is construction," senior law firm partner Robert Clifford said in a news release.

The settlement was reached by mediation in the Washington County Circuit Court.