Posted on 08/18/2006 3:55:32 PM PDT by SmithL
A state appeals court has rejected a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco by the family of a woman who was killed when her head slammed into the low ceiling of the Broadway Tunnel as she stood on the open upper deck of a private bus.
Signs outside the western end of the tunnel provided an adequate warning to drivers of the lowered clearance of 13 feet, 6 inches ahead, the Court of Appeal panel said Thursday.
The suit was filed by the husband and son of Diana Cushing Canning, 50, of Sebastopol, one of two passengers killed in the chartered bus that was carrying protesters to San Francisco in October 2002 for a demonstration against the impending war in Iraq. Canning, according to her husband, was a longtime activist who had worked in refugee camps, helped to found an orphanage in Ethiopia, and directed a foundation from her home that sent medical supplies to developing countries.
The vehicle was a former school bus topped by the joined upper sections of two Volkswagen vans with sunroofs, the court said. Its height was 12 feet, 10 1/2 inches.
Canning and several other passengers were standing in the upper level, their heads through the sunroofs, when the bus entered the tunnel's nearly 20-foot-high west end under Hyde Street. At the eastern exit, which dips abruptly to 13 feet, 6 inches, she and Anthony Hernandez, 43, of Woodacre, were fatally injured when their heads struck the ceiling. Canning's son Joshua and another passenger were able to duck and avoid contact.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Insensitive city - they made all the bridges and tunnels too low!
Another example of a child being smarter than his own parent. So sad, though, for that kid to watch his mom die like that.
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww shucks, only one didn't duck?
Sort of reminds me of the dufus protester that stood on the tracks in front of a train carrying atomic bombs, and got both his legs cut off. Duuuhhhhh.
It is a sad story. Can't say I feel for the immediate victims though.
So these morons expected the city to account for the added height of their modified contraption and the way in which they chose to rid in it when planning the construction and warnings around its bridges? UN-BE-LIEVABLE!
How embarassing.
Yeah, but Brian Willson got rich from it. $800,000 IIRC.
Looks like the tunnel stopped liberalism dead in its tracks(literally). But lets all remember that regardless of what side of the debate you're on(however misguided this woman was) we are all human beings. Rest in peace Diana Cushing Canning.
I don't know about SF, but it's against the law to do that in my town. Laws, of course, are for everyone else--just ask Diane Canning (if you could).
Somebody could rewrite that old Warren Zevon song, "Canning the Headless War Protestor".
Darwin - is that you?
I'd think the only person(potentially)liable would be the owner/driver of the vehicle.I wonder if the deceased(sp?) we're tested for intoxicants?
"Low bridge, everybody down"
Ping.
These idiots thought our bridges accomodated two-story school buses?
I don't want our opposition to die, unless they are evil like Castro, et al. In this case, I was rooting for the relatives of the protesting nitwit and hoping the lawsuit could bankrupt San Francisco.
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