A clanmate of mine and I were recently talking, getting to know each other on a more personal level, and he mentioned he was working on a website. I asked him what his URL was, and he gave it to me. The following story is what happened to him recently, taken directly from his site (TC/Admins, if this is against policy, let me know, but keep reading).
Linky
"On February 24, 2007, I was taking my 4 year old special needs child to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). It was around 2:50pm and we got to the TriMet bus which was on layover (Line 12). I smelled something coming from my son and considered the possibility that he may have a dirty diaper (thankfully, he's out of them now).
So I asked the bus driver if she would be willing to let me on the bus so I can change his diaper and then toss it away outside the bus so it wasn't on the bus the whole trip up to Portland (about an hour).
She said that it was against TriMet policy to change a diaper on the bus and to use the bathrooms across the street. She was getting ready to leave and I wouldn't have been able to go to the restrooms and be sure to catch the bus (It was the last bus that would've gotten us there while it was still open).
So I mentioned to her that I could change the diaper now (there was no place to change him outside as the area had no bench and had pretty sharp rocks along the side of the road), or I could change it while on the bus.
She got very upset at this and started screaming at me. I took it in stride and figured either I could wait an hour or I could miss the bus and have a screaming child who was promised OMSI and now isn't going. So I picked the hour.
After about 5 mins., the bus pulled forward and the driver announced that I wasn't allowed to board the bus. She told everyone to go around the corner where there is no stop and she will pick them up there.
So as the crowd started moving towards that area, I followed along. Now, I'm overweight and I was holding my sons hand (who had started already crying because the bus was leaving for OMSI and we weren't on it). The bus came to a stop in the middle of the street and there were cars on the right hand side. Everyone had about a 3 foot gap to come up to the bus.
I was the last one to get there and as I got to the door, she closed it and started driving away. I started banging on the window to try and get her to stop and she didn't. I was in plain view when I tripped and a second later, my son saw me get run over by a bus and the meat on my left leg get ripped off.
I had 7 surgeries and a month in the hospital (racking up around $100,000 in medical costs). The lawyer that I got said that they are dropping the case because I can be considered to be at least 50% responsible (She didn't want me on the bus and I attempted to get on, so she gets to run over me). TriMet is (of course) denying any wrongdoing (in fact, according to the police report, they told police that the bus didn't run over my leg even though the doctors in ER saw the tire prints on the muscle I had left).
So now.. I essentially have to eat the costs of the medical (and have a deformed leg for the rest of my life) because I wanted to ride the bus and take my kid to OMSI.
I have a video of the accident and you can see that I remain calm during the whole process. The bus driver said that she was scared for her life, but shouldn't she have called the police if she was? "
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There is video survellience of the whole ordeal on his site for download. Now, his son is autistic, and as most of you know, mine is as well, so I can understand why he chose to go. My question is, what can be done about this? It seems to me that the driver of the bus is 100% in the wrong, and the company should be liable for damages. However, according to my clanmate, in Oregon, if you can be found 50% in fault, then you can't sue. But to me it seems that he was nowhere near 50% at fault for this.
What can we do?
I've seen stories like this tamer on the morning news, and I'm wondering if it'll take national attention to get the company to see it's mistakes. He's already tried speaking to another lawyer, but they won't take the case either in case he's found 50% at fault.
Any suggestions? Comments?
I don't think I have to worry about flames, but keep in mind this is a sensitive subject, about a clanmate of mine. So take that into consideration.
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"You are not a hero to the world unless you are first and foremost a hero to your children." -Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Linky
"On February 24, 2007, I was taking my 4 year old special needs child to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). It was around 2:50pm and we got to the TriMet bus which was on layover (Line 12). I smelled something coming from my son and considered the possibility that he may have a dirty diaper (thankfully, he's out of them now).
So I asked the bus driver if she would be willing to let me on the bus so I can change his diaper and then toss it away outside the bus so it wasn't on the bus the whole trip up to Portland (about an hour).
She said that it was against TriMet policy to change a diaper on the bus and to use the bathrooms across the street. She was getting ready to leave and I wouldn't have been able to go to the restrooms and be sure to catch the bus (It was the last bus that would've gotten us there while it was still open).
So I mentioned to her that I could change the diaper now (there was no place to change him outside as the area had no bench and had pretty sharp rocks along the side of the road), or I could change it while on the bus.
She got very upset at this and started screaming at me. I took it in stride and figured either I could wait an hour or I could miss the bus and have a screaming child who was promised OMSI and now isn't going. So I picked the hour.
After about 5 mins., the bus pulled forward and the driver announced that I wasn't allowed to board the bus. She told everyone to go around the corner where there is no stop and she will pick them up there.
So as the crowd started moving towards that area, I followed along. Now, I'm overweight and I was holding my sons hand (who had started already crying because the bus was leaving for OMSI and we weren't on it). The bus came to a stop in the middle of the street and there were cars on the right hand side. Everyone had about a 3 foot gap to come up to the bus.
I was the last one to get there and as I got to the door, she closed it and started driving away. I started banging on the window to try and get her to stop and she didn't. I was in plain view when I tripped and a second later, my son saw me get run over by a bus and the meat on my left leg get ripped off.
I had 7 surgeries and a month in the hospital (racking up around $100,000 in medical costs). The lawyer that I got said that they are dropping the case because I can be considered to be at least 50% responsible (She didn't want me on the bus and I attempted to get on, so she gets to run over me). TriMet is (of course) denying any wrongdoing (in fact, according to the police report, they told police that the bus didn't run over my leg even though the doctors in ER saw the tire prints on the muscle I had left).
So now.. I essentially have to eat the costs of the medical (and have a deformed leg for the rest of my life) because I wanted to ride the bus and take my kid to OMSI.
I have a video of the accident and you can see that I remain calm during the whole process. The bus driver said that she was scared for her life, but shouldn't she have called the police if she was? "
=========
There is video survellience of the whole ordeal on his site for download. Now, his son is autistic, and as most of you know, mine is as well, so I can understand why he chose to go. My question is, what can be done about this? It seems to me that the driver of the bus is 100% in the wrong, and the company should be liable for damages. However, according to my clanmate, in Oregon, if you can be found 50% in fault, then you can't sue. But to me it seems that he was nowhere near 50% at fault for this.
What can we do?
I've seen stories like this tamer on the morning news, and I'm wondering if it'll take national attention to get the company to see it's mistakes. He's already tried speaking to another lawyer, but they won't take the case either in case he's found 50% at fault.
Any suggestions? Comments?
I don't think I have to worry about flames, but keep in mind this is a sensitive subject, about a clanmate of mine. So take that into consideration.
--------------------------------------
"You are not a hero to the world unless you are first and foremost a hero to your children." -Rabbi Shmuley Boteach