stupid lawsuit of the day
hippiemom
Posts: 3,326
DUI driver's family sues over her escape, in which she died
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
The family of a woman stopped for drunken driving who was hit and killed by a car on the Ohio Turnpike after escaping from a State Highway Patrol cruiser has sued the agency for failing to lock the car doors.
A handcuffed Francina Pugh of Cleveland was running free in the dark before the trooper driving back to his post even realized she was missing, the claim states.
Pugh's family seeks more than $25,000 in its wrongful death case in the Ohio Court of Claims.
Pugh, 53, was stopped by Trooper Jason Turner at 10:12 p.m. March 30 as she drove west on the turnpike in Freedom Township in Portage County, according to news releases from the patrol at the time of the incident. She was arrested for driving under the influence, handcuffed and placed in the back of his cruiser.
The release says that at 10:52 p.m., as Turner was completing an inventory of Pugh's car, he discovered she had gotten away, and troopers immediately began a search, the patrol said. The patrol said Pugh eluded troopers who saw her around 11 p.m. and ran into the woods.
But the lawsuit claims the trooper did not see Pugh leave the car and began driving back to the Hiram Post before he noticed she wasn't in the back seat.
Troopers got a call at 11:13 p.m. that a pedestrian had been struck in the middle of the westbound lanes. Pugh was hit by a Ford Focus driven by a 19-year-old Streetsboro woman about a half-mile from where she had been arrested. The woman told officials that she was driving around 68 mph and Pugh "came out of nowhere" from the left side.
The Portage County Coroner's Office reported Pugh's blood alcohol content was 0.23 percent, according to a report given to the patrol.
The wrongful-death claim was filed July 12 by Pugh's sister, Miriam Gilliam of Richmond Heights. Pugh is also survived by a son, Curtis, 24, and her mother. They and their attorney would not comment Wednesday.
On June 20, Turner was disciplined and suspended for three days, according to the patrol.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
The family of a woman stopped for drunken driving who was hit and killed by a car on the Ohio Turnpike after escaping from a State Highway Patrol cruiser has sued the agency for failing to lock the car doors.
A handcuffed Francina Pugh of Cleveland was running free in the dark before the trooper driving back to his post even realized she was missing, the claim states.
Pugh's family seeks more than $25,000 in its wrongful death case in the Ohio Court of Claims.
Pugh, 53, was stopped by Trooper Jason Turner at 10:12 p.m. March 30 as she drove west on the turnpike in Freedom Township in Portage County, according to news releases from the patrol at the time of the incident. She was arrested for driving under the influence, handcuffed and placed in the back of his cruiser.
The release says that at 10:52 p.m., as Turner was completing an inventory of Pugh's car, he discovered she had gotten away, and troopers immediately began a search, the patrol said. The patrol said Pugh eluded troopers who saw her around 11 p.m. and ran into the woods.
But the lawsuit claims the trooper did not see Pugh leave the car and began driving back to the Hiram Post before he noticed she wasn't in the back seat.
Troopers got a call at 11:13 p.m. that a pedestrian had been struck in the middle of the westbound lanes. Pugh was hit by a Ford Focus driven by a 19-year-old Streetsboro woman about a half-mile from where she had been arrested. The woman told officials that she was driving around 68 mph and Pugh "came out of nowhere" from the left side.
The Portage County Coroner's Office reported Pugh's blood alcohol content was 0.23 percent, according to a report given to the patrol.
The wrongful-death claim was filed July 12 by Pugh's sister, Miriam Gilliam of Richmond Heights. Pugh is also survived by a son, Curtis, 24, and her mother. They and their attorney would not comment Wednesday.
On June 20, Turner was disciplined and suspended for three days, according to the patrol.
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
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the other foot in the gutter
sweet smell that they adore
I think I'd rather smother
-The Replacements-
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Oh, how I would love to be a juror in this case.
We can't just blame the lawyers....the plaintiffs need to have some morals....the attorneys are merely devils on the shoulders of the plaintiffs, who have the final say in deciding whether or not to sue.
There's plenty of blame to go around. The legislators (most of them lawyers, what a coincidence) who write the laws that allow this sort of nonsense. The greedy people who will sue over any stupid thing. The jurors who reward them. All of us for not demanding that any of this be changed.