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 ...
According to the full article, she's suing him too!
"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."
.
“Come now, you’ve never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? ... Of all the cases on record, there’s not one single case of a sweet, charming mother-in-law, accidentally drowned in an SUV.”
She's probably suing his insurance company for the medical bills. That's the way you have to do it around here.
"Mother-in-Law goes in the drink in new vehicle..."
Son-in-Law must be having "mixed emotions."
Can she also sue for now being ethically challenged, as well as brain-damaged? Or could that possibly be a condition that existed before the accident?
Great Idea!
So all towns near a river should have a dive team in place, 24/7, waiting for some idiot to drive into the river?
Figuring he could swim better than the old battle-ax?
Well that's because they didn't have SUV's in 1944. :-)
If the MIL is this ornery after the accident, what was she like before? Is her present personality an improvement? The article says she is in a nursing home. The manufacturers of Bingo games had better lawyer up.
Put the old bitch back in the river then.
Thank you! This is the best paragraph I've read in quite awhile. I plan to plegarize it heavily. I will attempt to give you credit whenever my ego allows!
B-word.
I guess my defense would be that while the woman may be brain damaged following the rescue, she would be brain DEAD if the rescue hadn't taken place.
Of course, that would require a re-enactment to substantiate the theory ...
Well let me be the first: I have read the first 33 replies and nary a mention yet:
Was Teddy the driver?
Roger that!
I live in a tiny town (1,500 + -) with a great Volunteer FD trained in swift water rescue. Our town is on a river that has astonishing 23 ft. rised during heavy rains, they've pulled out lots of folks over the years. Most of those people were in those raging waters because of their stupidity and lack of common-sense (by-passing a "bridge closed" barricade, for example).
I wholeheartedly agree with Post #4.
mark
Didn't we once have a legal profession consisting entirely of men and women who would have tossed this woman out of their offices?
I would have (and have, in fact, on several occasions). That's why I still drive a Taurus rather than a Lexus.
Chuckle.
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