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Town Sued Over Accident That Sent SUV Into River (Suing rescuers)
WTNH News Channel 8 ^ | Aug. 5, 2005 | Tina Detel

Posted on 08/08/2005 5:58:11 PM PDT by raybbr

(Old Saybrook, Connecticut-WTNH, Aug. 5, 2005 5:53 PM< _ A woman saved from a submerged car in the Connecticut River is now suing the town which rescued her. An attorney for Barbara Connors says his client suffered permanent brain damage because Old Saybrook did not have the right equipment to save her quick enough.

The lawsuit has surprised many in town who say the efforts of those rescuers saved this woman's life. This suit though targets the town, saying this accident could have been prevented and the rescue could have been quicker.Last October, First Selectman Mike Pace honored those who rescued 76-year-old Barbara Connors and her son-in-law after his Ford Explorer plunged into the mouth of the Connecticut River. Today Pace finds himself defending those same rescuers from a lawsuit.

"It seems like a penalty for doing what was right, quick, and just."

Connors' attorney Robert Reardon says it took rescuers twenty-nine minutes to pull her from the submerged SUV. And he says if a dive team were in place things would be different.

(Excerpt) Read more at newschannel8.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: goodsamaritanpays
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No good deed goes unpunished.

I know this is a little old but it was too good to pass up.

1 posted on 08/08/2005 5:58:12 PM PDT by raybbr
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To: mhking

Just damn???


2 posted on 08/08/2005 5:58:46 PM PDT by raybbr
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To: raybbr
An attorney for Barbara Connors says his client suffered permanent brain damage because Old Saybrook did not have the right equipment to save her quick enough.

Perhaps her driving her vehicle into the water played a small part.

3 posted on 08/08/2005 6:00:57 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: raybbr

Throw her crippled a## back into the river and then throw her shyster lawyer in after her.


4 posted on 08/08/2005 6:02:22 PM PDT by Hexenhammer
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To: raybbr

Quick - pull the feeding tube! (from the lawyaaah)


5 posted on 08/08/2005 6:03:14 PM PDT by xcamel (Deep Red, stuck in a "bleu" state.)
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To: raybbr

Well, she is right about one thing. The accident could have been prevented all right. The idiot driving could have driven slower and safer! Idiots, and the judge who allowed this lawsuit and didn't throw it out is the biggest idiot.


6 posted on 08/08/2005 6:04:00 PM PDT by calex59 (If you have to take me apart to get me there, then I don't want to go!)
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To: raybbr

Old Saybrook Population: 1962

http://oldsaybrook.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

Yikes, there are a lot of townships near rivers or streams that are going to have to have frog-men at the ready 24/7/365.

This is rediculous.


7 posted on 08/08/2005 6:07:28 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (US socialist liberalism would be dead without the help of politicians who claim to be conservative.)
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To: raybbr

Don't settle! Don't settle! Make her pay for the services!


8 posted on 08/08/2005 6:08:28 PM PDT by jimfree (Freep and Ye shall find.)
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To: raybbr

Quite simply she has no right to be rescued. That anyone bothers is due to their charity. I expect this to go down the same road as the "right to police protection".


9 posted on 08/08/2005 6:08:46 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: raybbr

My township is being sued by a homeowner whose 3-story home caught on fire. The township firetruck could only reach to the second story to put the fire out.


10 posted on 08/08/2005 6:09:04 PM PDT by arichtaxpayer (We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.)
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To: raybbr; Lijahsbubbe; aculeus; dighton; martin_fierro
Connors is also suing her son-in-law, Alan Hauser, who said he hit the accelerator instead of the brake causing the Explorer to crash through the fence and into the river.

Hmmm, he's driving an SUV with this sweet, charming mother-in-law, and accidentally depresses the accelerator such that the vehicle plunges into a river.

There could be more to this story which may go a long way in explaining his sudden loss of control.

11 posted on 08/08/2005 6:11:30 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal (Wisely investing in quality tin foil wardrobe basics since 1998)
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To: raybbr
This suit though targets the town, saying this accident could have been prevented and the rescue could have been quicker

What nonsense.

First, the accident could have been prevented if her driver had pressed the brake pedal instead of the gas pedal (facts which have been ascertained by the LEO's).

Second, no township is specifically obligated to have any particular resue equipment "on hand" (which also has to be "paid for").

Third, maybe the rescue squad should stick her ungreatfull ass back in her sunken SUV and say "have a nice day".

12 posted on 08/08/2005 6:12:42 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Crush! Kill! Destroy the heathen!)
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To: raybbr
One other explanation could be that she was driving in a SUV. You know how nasty those gas guzzling planet polluting road hogs are. They are pure evil. I think the lawyer should sue the manufacturer of that SUV. If it was not so large and heavy it may not have sunk so fast. They should have known that some unsuspecting driver would one day drive into the drink in this town where "proper" rescue equipment was lacking. Wasn't this a foreseeable incident? Shouldn't the manufacturer be responsible now to build SUV's with more water tight seals to prevent this kind of tragedy?
13 posted on 08/08/2005 6:18:26 PM PDT by hophead (" Shi'ite happens..")
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To: raybbr

I'm guessing this trial wont be held in Old Saybrook


14 posted on 08/08/2005 6:19:24 PM PDT by stylin19a (In golf, some are long, I'm "Lama Long")
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To: DoughtyOne

What if she had had a heart attack? Would she be suing because the first Constable to arrive didn't know how to perform roadside open-heart surgery?


15 posted on 08/08/2005 6:19:30 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Crush! Kill! Destroy the heathen!)
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To: raybbr

Is this a "wrongful life" suit?


16 posted on 08/08/2005 6:21:44 PM PDT by Tall_Texan (Visit Club Gitmo - The World's Only Air-Conditioned Gulag.)
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To: raybbr
And he says if a dive team were in place things would be different.

This is about the same level of nit-wit thinking that led to a proposal a few years ago by a woman in Texas whose husband had been swept away in a flash flood tht Texas establish a "fast reaction force" who could then rescue folk that had been swept away in a flash flood.

It seems to me that I remember her saying the "Nobody should ever again have to go through what I've been through."

Some people have never ever had to come to grips with life in a world constrained by economic choice. Normally we call them children. Upon reaching adulthood, those still harboring such childish fantasies may safely be called morons.

17 posted on 08/08/2005 6:23:15 PM PDT by John Valentine
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To: lepton

Quite correct. The lefties constantly over look the fact that the courts have determined that the Gov-Mint has absolutely no obligation to provide any specific service to any specific individual. LOL! Read and weep, goo-goos!


18 posted on 08/08/2005 6:23:45 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Crush! Kill! Destroy the heathen!)
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To: Thinkin' Gal

That's an interesting take. I hadn't noticed she was suing him also. I'll be the attorney had nothing to do with that option...


19 posted on 08/08/2005 6:25:39 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (US socialist liberalism would be dead without the help of politicians who claim to be conservative.)
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To: arichtaxpayer

Two-out-of-three stories are still working, and that ain't bad, really.


20 posted on 08/08/2005 6:26:13 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Crush! Kill! Destroy the heathen!)
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