Posted on 04/25/2014 2:01:28 PM PDT by rickmichaels
ALCONA - Still in the throes of agony from losing their son in a vehicle crash, the parents of young Brandon Majewski are now reeling after they learned the woman who struck and killed him is suing their dead child.
“I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach – I’m over the edge,” the dead boy’s father Derek Majewski said.
As he sits in his immaculate Alcona home sifting through piles of photographs of his son, the heartache shows on his face and he can hardly contain his tears as he speaks.
Just down the road, on the side of a quiet country stretch of Innisfil Beach Rd., is a memorial complete with a bicycle, flowers and photographs of his son Brandon.
The spunky, handsome, 17-year-old bike enthusiast was out with his two buddies on Oct. 28, 2012 when they hopped on their bicycles to go for hotdogs on a drizzly, dark night around 1:30 a.m.
Brandon was struck dead-on by an SUV and killed while his friend Richard McLean, 16, was seriously injured with broken bones and pelvis. His other pal Jake Roberts, 16, was hit but sustained only scratches.
Now the driver of the SUV, Sharlene Simon, a mother of three, is suing the dead boy for the emotional trauma it has caused her. She’s also suing the two other boys, as well as the dead boy’s parents, and even his brother, who has since died. She’s also suing the County of Simcoe for failing to maintain the road.
Even the family’s lawyer is in shock.
“In all of my years as a lawyer, I have never seen anyone ever sue a child that they killed,” Barrie lawyer Brian Cameron said. “It’s beyond the pale.”
In fact, he couldn’t even call the family to tell them the news this week.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them on the phone.”
After a face-to-face meeting Tuesday, the parents and stepparents left his office almost staggering in disbelief.
“I’m devastated, I’m in shock,” said Brandon's mother, Venetta Mlynczyk, a dental assistant who is drowning in sorrow. “She killed my child and now she wants to profit from it? She says she’s in pain? Tell her to look inside my head and she will see pain, she will see panic, she will see nightmares.”
“It blows my mind,” Brandon’s stepmom, Lisa Tessier, said. “We are all devastated. This is so cruel.”
In a statement of claim filed with the courts, Simon is claiming $1.35-million in damages due to her psychological suffering, including depression, anxiety, irritability and post traumatic stress. She blames the boys for negligence.
“They did not apply their brakes properly,” the claim states. “They were incompetent bicyclists."
Simon's lawyer yet to return a call from the Toronto Sun.
Brandon’s father shakes his head.
“They’re kids!” he gasps. “And they have a right to make mistakes ... it was a wet, dark road – what about slowing down?”
He insists the reflectors on the bikes would have been visible.
A South Simcoe Police report shows Simon was driving at an estimated 90 km/h in an 80-km zone.
The report also states: “no breathalyzer was performed” – a point the lawyer intends to delve deeper into, he says.
Her husband, Jules Simon, a York Regional Police officer, was driving behind his wife that night, but little is mentioned about him as a witness in the police report. He pulled over when Brandon was struck, and shortly after both were allowed to go home. It was another witness who pulled over to tend to Brandon and called 911.
Two hours later, after Brandon lay dead in hospital from multiple traumatic injuries, police knocked on the door of his home.
The dogs began to bark. It was late.
“I knew,” says his father, and his voice breaks again. “I had a gut feeling.”
Therapy, medication, even booze, doesn’t dull the pain.
And then, six months after the funeral, he awoke to find his second son Devon, 23, who had just graduated as a paralegal, laying in his bed, blue and dead, after popping too many pills and drinking too many shots. Not an intended suicide, they are certain – he was just trying to stifle his grief.
“This has ripped our family apart,” says Majewski. “And now this woman has the gall to try to profit from our dead child she killed? Profit from another boy who was almost crippled?”
He flips again through the family photographs. Happy times of fishing, dirt biking, swimming, eating birthday cake, laughing. He chuckles for a moment when he remembers all the bikes his son rebuilt – sometimes he would sneak the parts right into his bedroom, and shine them till they gleamed. All another world away.
“This thing haunts us,” he says. “It will never stop haunting us.”
Cameron has launched a routine lawsuit against the driver, mainly for medical and funeral costs on behalf of the boys and their families. He alleges Simon was speeding and may have been intoxicated and talking on her cell phone.
“Sharlene Simon failed to take reasonable care to avoid a collision which she saw or should have seen was likely to occur,” his claim states. “She operated the motor vehicle while she was intoxicated.”
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Brandon Majewski
True, but on the other hand...
” on a drizzly, dark night around 1:30 a.m. “
Sounds to me like everyone involved was an idiot.
NOTHING GOOD except possibly for one thing happens after midnight.
Hmmmm. I think I can guess why she wasn't given a breathalyzer.
The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
Shakespeare.
She was speeding even for ideal conditions, these were NOT ideal conditions. It's interesting she didn't call for help and neither did her cop husband who was driving behind her, it was a third party. No breath test is also highly suspicious. Smells like she's lashing out from a guilty conscious.
If she had done this to my family she would vanish. Forever
Yes, but words mean things and the word “RIGHT” gets tossed around waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much nowadays.
I also mentioned that idea in my reply but making allowances isn’t anything about RIGHTS. IF he wants to make that point he needs to use the correct and accurate words instead of declaring they have a “right” to screw up.
They are trying to claim victim status hoping not to get their asses sued. Trying to go for calling it a draw. We’ll drop our lawsuit if you don’t sue/drop yours.
Other cops are advising this guy to go this route. They talk about everything in terms of legal matters, amongst each other. I KNOW first-hand from cops in the family and their cop friends. They talk about how to screw over the wife they’re divorcing. They talk about covering each other’s stories in internal reviews and court cases.
I second that emotion. It’s tough.
And this is about as offensive as it gets ...
Yup, followed by authors and writers.
Which lawyer?
The one representing the family of the kid who was riding “dead on” with traffic at 1:30 am in the rain?
The photo at the end of the article shows that Brandon has installed a motor on his bicycle , these are typically between 50cc and 80cc engines ,, a bicycle so equipped can go as fast as 50mph ,, and the photo also shows that the bike has no front brakes... we don’t know if this is what he was riding that night but that is what is presented.
And I assume they are countersuing for harassment, pain and suffering, murder of their son by a mentally unsound creep, etc etc, to the tune of $10 million.
The driver’s nastiness in filing her suit makes the parents a shoo-in to win theirs.
It sounds like there was more cops on the scene besides the husband. This wild story might cause one of those cops tell the truth. It may have been a DUI and cover up.
I ride at night a lot.
Anybody who does so without lights is an idiot.
My bike’s light is 1800 lumens, car headlights are 800 to 1000.
Pretty hard to claim you didn’t see me coming.
I rode at night without lights as a kid, but I used residential streets and I assumed all responsibility for my safety. Back then, the lights were powered by the turning of the bicycle wheel...at least mine was. It could be seen from...20 feet, tops?
It’s only recently, with LEDs, that really practical hi-power bike lights have become available, especially at a reasonable price.
I hadn’t thought about that. LEDs ought to make a big difference. I ride horses now instead of bikes, but I don’t ride them at night on roads.. Unlike a bicycle, a 1000 lb horse will sometimes get ideas of its own about where to go and why, and my horse’s judgment is even worse than mine!
“Ah, her husband’s a cop, and was on the scene. Now we know why she wasn’t breathalyzed.”
You’ve had to much to drink, honey. I’ll follow you home in my unit. Nobody will bother you. Wink, wink.
THis is Canada. Probably in the Labour Party.
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