Posted on 12/11/2001 10:53:50 PM PST by ambrose
Teen hit by train while asleep on tracks sues railroad
Cameron Clapp of Grover Beach filed a lawsuit in San Luis Obispo Superior Court last week against Union Pacific Railroad and the train’s conductor and engineer.
Clapp lost his legs and right arm early on the morning of Sept. 15 after he fell asleep on Union Pacific train tracks near his home on Front Street in Grover Beach. A Union Pacific freight train ran over the boy, severing both of his legs near the knee and his right arm at the shoulder.
According to a Grover Beach police report, Clapp’s blood alcohol level shortly after the accident was 0.229 — nearly three times the legal limit for an adult operating a motor vehicle.
The suit states that Edward J. Faller, the train’s conductor, and Edward C. Steman, the engineer, should have sounded the horn or bell when they saw the boy lying across the tracks near the 600 block of Front Street in Grover Beach.
“If you see something lying across the tracks and you have to activate the emergency brake system, then why would you not, as you are bearing down on this kid on the tracks, also not sound your horn,” said Jim Murphy, Clapp’s attorney. “These horns are enormously powerful and can literally wake the dead.”
The suit states the train was about 640 feet south of Clapp when Steman and Faller saw the boy on the tracks. According to Grover Beach police, the engineer and conductor did not sound the horn because they were focused on activating the train’s emergency brakes. Faller told police they did not see the boy’s body until Clapp was approximately 100 feet north of the train.
Murphy acknowledges that Clapp had been drinking before he passed out on the tracks but said that does not excuse Union Pacific from liability.
“It’s really not a question of excusing Cameron from any responsibility that he might have for his own conduct but about making other people responsible for their misconduct,” Murphy said.
Clapp is suing for damages related to hospital costs, medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and property damage. The suit states unspecified damages will be determined by either a judge or jury.
That was their mistake. If they'd just kept going full speed they could have avoided the danger of a lawsuit, while at the same time making the drunken kid a shoe-in for a well-deserved posthumous Darwin award. Instead they screwed up and only severed his legs and arm, thus failing to remove his defective genes from the human gene pool.
So the kid gets drunk and goes to sleep on the tracks and its the railroad's fault? What a moron. He should be happy that he is still alive.
If the train's wheels had travelled a little higher on his body, he would have been eligible for a Darwin award.
Wow! They must know something that medical science hasn't stumbled upon yet. A horn that can literally wake the dead? I hope these trains don't pass anywhere near a cemetary. It could look like something out of a horror film.
He could of been fun at parties,
as long as he bought his own booze!
Maybe this can explain some recent election results.
The word "virtually" seems to have literally vanished.
I'm with you Wolfie. We are, after all, talking about a Kalifornia jury.
I wouldn't be surprised if they give the kid and his pick pocket, er, I mean lawyer, a new house, car, and support for the rest of their life(s).
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