Posted on 08/15/2006 1:36:04 PM PDT by fgoodwin
Army: Witnesses did not recall seeing signs about power lines before four Scout leaders died
Three witnesses to the electrocution of four National Scout Jamboree leaders did not recall any signs warning of high-voltage power lines in the vicinity, according to investigative documents.
However, a photograph included in the documents does show the presence of a sign. And one Boy Scout from the Western Alaska troop stated he noticed the overhead electrical lines before a metal tent pole touched them on July 25, 2005, the first day of the quadrennial event at the U.S. Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County.
"We did not think about them," the youth said in a sworn statement.
The Army released the documents this month in response to The Times-Dispatch's continued federal Freedom of Information Act request for materials from the military's criminal investigation into the accident. The Army previously found no criminal wrongdoing arising from the accident.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
How could there have been criminal wrongdoing here?
If anything, it was criminal that the Boy Scout leaders didn't think about basic electrical concerns.
I was a Boy Scout and I'm glad I was. However, there was an "Electricity" merit badge (which I received).
They needed some very basic electricity knowledge. The leaders were responsible for their own deaths.
While all of us know who is to blame, the idea is that an ambulance-chaser will sue the "deep pockets", the taxpayer (via the Military), as usual, and if the finding is for $10 million, and they split on 'negligence' is even 80% for the Scout Leaders' fault, the 20% remaining is still $2 Million which will get the Lawyers in the neighborhood of $1 million for themselves (50% contingency fee), or even if the contingency "fee" is 30% plus expenses, they will still get $1 million of taxpayer money as a settlement, via the Army being only a conduit to reach deep pockets.
Suing the Army in a lousy case because you think it is a "deep pocket" is not a good idea. The government has lots of lawyers on the payroll, so it doesn't cost them much to fight a lawsuit. They don't roll over quite the way private litigants do. That plaintiffs lawyer may find out he's got a tiger by the tail.
I hope you're right, but if it goes to a Jury, it's ALWAYS a crap-shoot (especially if their from the Liberal voter-base side).
Since the accident happened at Fort A.P. Hill, I'm pretty sure a suit against the Army would wind up being tried in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. There are some liberal pockets in Northern Virginia, but, on the whole, jury panels in that court tend to be conservative. That's one of the reasons it is DOJ's favorite court for trials involving national security issues.
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