Kamododragoon
08-11-2005, 12:14 AM
http://www.courant.com/news/local/sr/hc-osblawsuit0805.artaug05,0,5053455.story
Town Sued Over River Rescue
Woman Trapped In Car Driven Off Point Faults Lack Of Dive Team
By CLAUDIA VAN NES
Courant Staff Writer
August 5 2005
OLD SAYBROOK -- Barbara Connors, 76, rescued after a car driven by her son-in-law plunged into the Connecticut River last October, is suing a long list of town officials for damages.
"I find it extraordinary the town is being sued in these circumstances," First Selectman Mike Pace, one of the defendants, said at Thursday's selectmen's meeting.
The town's insurance company will represent Pace; park and recreation commission members; Police Chief Ed Mosca; Public Works Director Larry Bonin; Building Inspector Donald Lucas; Town Planner Christine Nelson; and Chester Slododosky, who the suit says was the zoning enforcement officer at the time, but had retired prior to the incident.
Also being sued is Alan Hauser, the son-in-law who lives with Connor's daughter in Old Lyme. Hauser told police he accidentally hit the accelerator of his Ford Explorer, which was running and in gear, causing the vehicle to jump the walk and crash through the chain-link fence that runs along the river at town-owned Saybrook Point.
Hauser had driven his mother-in-law to the Point Oct. 14 to have lunch with her.
In the intent to sue filed by Connor's attorney, Robert Reardon Jr. of New London, late last year, the rescuers were named - police officers and volunteers - but are not included in the actual suit.
Instead, added to the suit are new accusations that the town failed to maintain a rescue dive team and refused to fund a team, causing Connors to spend 29 minutes submerged in the water until divers could get to her.
"There were some very heroic acts going on that day," acknowledged Reardon Thursday. Indeed, at a ceremony in town hall honoring the police, firefighters and others who repeatedly dove without equipment to try to rescue Connors, her family attended and thanked those honored.
But, Reardon contended, divers at the ready would have meant "these people didn't have to risk their lives and my client could have been rescued in a timely manner."
Reardon said Connors, who had been living on her own in Massachusetts, has severe brain damage from the incident and lives with round-the-clock care in a nursing home in Waterford that she is never expected to leave.
The suit also charges the fence should have been stronger, the Point patrolled at lunchtime by police and more signs warning of "unsafe conditions" posted.
Pace told fellow selectmen the suit would be fought "vigorously by the town," which he pointed out not only provided scores of rescuers, but also sustained costs in needed repairs.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
I'd like to know how can you be sued for doing your job and sue the rescuers for not doing their job or not responding on time.
Town Sued Over River Rescue
Woman Trapped In Car Driven Off Point Faults Lack Of Dive Team
By CLAUDIA VAN NES
Courant Staff Writer
August 5 2005
OLD SAYBROOK -- Barbara Connors, 76, rescued after a car driven by her son-in-law plunged into the Connecticut River last October, is suing a long list of town officials for damages.
"I find it extraordinary the town is being sued in these circumstances," First Selectman Mike Pace, one of the defendants, said at Thursday's selectmen's meeting.
The town's insurance company will represent Pace; park and recreation commission members; Police Chief Ed Mosca; Public Works Director Larry Bonin; Building Inspector Donald Lucas; Town Planner Christine Nelson; and Chester Slododosky, who the suit says was the zoning enforcement officer at the time, but had retired prior to the incident.
Also being sued is Alan Hauser, the son-in-law who lives with Connor's daughter in Old Lyme. Hauser told police he accidentally hit the accelerator of his Ford Explorer, which was running and in gear, causing the vehicle to jump the walk and crash through the chain-link fence that runs along the river at town-owned Saybrook Point.
Hauser had driven his mother-in-law to the Point Oct. 14 to have lunch with her.
In the intent to sue filed by Connor's attorney, Robert Reardon Jr. of New London, late last year, the rescuers were named - police officers and volunteers - but are not included in the actual suit.
Instead, added to the suit are new accusations that the town failed to maintain a rescue dive team and refused to fund a team, causing Connors to spend 29 minutes submerged in the water until divers could get to her.
"There were some very heroic acts going on that day," acknowledged Reardon Thursday. Indeed, at a ceremony in town hall honoring the police, firefighters and others who repeatedly dove without equipment to try to rescue Connors, her family attended and thanked those honored.
But, Reardon contended, divers at the ready would have meant "these people didn't have to risk their lives and my client could have been rescued in a timely manner."
Reardon said Connors, who had been living on her own in Massachusetts, has severe brain damage from the incident and lives with round-the-clock care in a nursing home in Waterford that she is never expected to leave.
The suit also charges the fence should have been stronger, the Point patrolled at lunchtime by police and more signs warning of "unsafe conditions" posted.
Pace told fellow selectmen the suit would be fought "vigorously by the town," which he pointed out not only provided scores of rescuers, but also sustained costs in needed repairs.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
I'd like to know how can you be sued for doing your job and sue the rescuers for not doing their job or not responding on time.