Cop sues family after slipping at their home during baby rescue

[terry78]

Let's round all these pigs up and create marshall law.

 

[omid17]

Let's round all these pigs up and create marshall law.

im down

 

[omid17]

her ass needs to get fired

 

[StorminNorman]

wow what you said is pretty stupid

I didn't condemn an entire profession due to the actions of one woman, nor even the actions of a few.

 

[Dope Nose]

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/10/10/officer_sue_family.html

Officer Sues Family Of Child She Rescued
Thursday, October 11, 2007 6:18:27 AM

The Casselberry Police Department does not support a lawsuit by one of its officers against the family of the boy she rescued.

Sergeant Andrea Eichhorn is suing the family of 1-year-old Joey Cosmillo. Cosmillo nearly drowned in the family's backyard pool, and Eichhorn was one of the officers called in to save her.

According to Eichhorn's suit, the family did not clean up the water from the pool. That caused her to slip and fall while rescuing Cosmillo. Eichhorn was off the job for two months after breaking her knee.

Cosmillo suffered brain damage, and now receives 24-hour nursing care. He also needs breathing and feeding tubes.

Casselberry's police chief, John Pavlis released a statement Wednesday, saying: "I do not support the lawsuit filed by Sgt. Eichhorn and her attorney... What happened to the Sergeant was an accident. She has been compensated for all time off the job due to this injury."

 

[Armand Z Trip]

Ask Stephen Hawking that and then come back to us

Stephen Hawking has ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, it is a motor neuron disease. Drowning kills brain cells due to lack of oxygen.

 

[Armand Z Trip]

seriously its hard to look at that poor kid like that, now im all teary eyed

It's kinda odd-sounded, but I kinda think it's a shame that kid lived.

I mean, not that I wish him any harm, but what good is living when you can't do anything whatsoever?

This is the greater tragedy, beyond Deputy *****e Bag and her law suit. Anything beyond 4 minutes under water, or without oxygen and the brain turns to jelly; unless you are very lucky or the bass player for Motley Crue. EMT's can bring someone back after being drowned for 15-20 minutes, but the survivor's brain is gone. That person is going to need constant very expensive care for the rest of their lives. That poor kid, it is just so unbeliavably sad. Infants and swimming pools do not mix.

 

[moraldeficiency]

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/10/10/officer_sue_family.html

The other cops are cool, this lady's just a @itch.

 

[danoyse]

You know what? I'm glad she's taking this to court. I want to see a judge publicly berate this idiot for having the audacity to file a lawsuit against this poor family.

 

[Mike_D202]

I cant believe she has the balls to sue the family even after she received workman's comp and her hospital bills were paid.

 

[danoyse]

She's showing up at the home a near-drowning victim and it doesn't occur to her there was water on the floor? Please. Was she expecting them to clean up before they arrived?

 

[Kritish]

Ask Stephen Hawking that and then come back to us

Stephen Hawking didn't always have Lou Gehrig's disease.

 

[EdRyder]

I guess I was wrong
Police, Firefighters ,EMT's and other saftey officers can sue individual citizens if they are injured on the job due to an outdated doctrine known as "The firemans rule"

TITLE LII
ACTIONS, PROCESS, AND SERVICE OF PROCESS
CHAPTER 507
ACTIONS
Other Actions and Limitations on Liability
Section 507:8-h
507:8-h Fireman's Rule. –
I. Firefighters, emergency medical technicians (E.M.T.'s), police officers and other public safety officers shall have no cause of action for injuries arising from negligent conduct which created the particular occasion for the officer's official engagement. However, this section does not affect such officer's causes of action for unrelated negligent conduct occurring during the officer's official engagement, or for other negligent conduct, or for reckless, wanton or willful acts of misconduct.
II. In this section, ""public safety officer'' means a person who is exposed to injury while acting in an official capacity in law enforcement or protection of life or property

 

[danoyse]

I just saw the lawyer for the cop on CNN. He's claiming that they're suing the family because of their negligence in letting the baby fall into the pool in the first place.

Because having a permanently brain-damaged baby in a nursing home isn't punishment enough, I suppose.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I like how the suit claims it's the parents fault for not baby proofing the pool, obviously neither the officer or the attorney have kids. Kids are fast and can get into a dangerous situation in the blink of an eye and boys are even better at it. My stepsister was feeding her son and turned around to get something from the fridge, when she turned back around the kid's swinging from the chandlier over the table. Probably 30 seconds, he's out of the highchair on the table and swinging over the table and he was the same age as this kid, 1 year old, she's a great parent, but kids are magnets for trouble and dangerous situations.

 

[carrrnuttt]

to protect and serve my ass

She is doing exactly that.



















She is protecting her interests, and serving lawsuits.

 

[bell110]

Stephen Hawking didn't always have Lou Gehrig's disease.

I think the point he is trying to make is that the kid is one step above a vegetable. Stephen Hawkins is not close to being in a vegetative state.

 

[Joker]

so let's say she got called to a convience store that was being robbed, and got shot by the guy who was holding up the place...would she then sue the convienence store for not having a better in house security system, causing her to be shot? She's a f**king cop, if she didnt want to take risks she should have been a CPA or something.

 

[omid17]

so let's say she got called to a convience store that was being robbed, and got shot by the guy who was holding up the place...would she then sue the convienence store for not having a better in house security system, causing her to be shot? She's a f**king cop, if she didnt want to take risks she should have been a CPA or something.

its funny how stupid some cops can be

 

[EdRyder]

double

 

[EdRyder]

so let's say she got called to a convience store that was being robbed, and got shot by the guy who was holding up the place...would she then sue the convienence store for not having a better in house security system, causing her to be shot? She's a f**king cop, if she didnt want to take risks she should have been a CPA or something.

Its sketchy dude,...This is why Shakespear said kill all the lawyers.
Firemans rule is meant to portect the citizenry of lawsuits,But Legal theory and shady lawyers argue the hell out of it.

The deal is:They assume risk of injury -they dont assume risk of injury without recourse

 

[bell110]

It's sad that this lady doesn't have a drop of maternal sympathy. The defendents should bring they're kid in everyday during the trial.

 

[omid17]

It's sad that this lady doesn't have a drop of maternal sympathy. The defendents should bring they're kid in everyday during the trial.

i agree

 

[Victarion]

***** needs a Brazilian.

---Morzan

 

[Dope Nose]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-11012slipandfall,0,5084588.story

Cop will end slip-and-fall lawsuit as public cries foul
By Rene Stutzman | Orlando Sentinel
9:16 AM EDT, October 12, 2007

CASSELBERRY -- The police sergeant who filed a slip-and-fall lawsuit against the family of a severely brain-damaged toddler is abandoning her case.

Amid heavy criticism from people angry about the suit, the Police Department began an internal investigation and placed Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn on paid leave Thursday. Shortly afterward, her attorney reported she was giving up her lawsuit.

Eichhorn, 35, had sued on Oct. 1, accusing Joey Cosmillo's family of negligence. Eichhorn was one of several officers sent to their home Jan. 9 after the boy's mother called 911 to report that her 1-year-old son had wandered into the backyard, fallen into the pool and nearly drowned.

The mother, Angela Cosmillo, had carried the boy inside, leaving a trail of water. Eichhorn slipped and fell in a puddle when she walked inside the home to join rescuers who resuscitated the boy.

She broke a kneecap and was off the job two months, but she returned to full duty months ago, and the city of Casselberry or its insurer covered all her medical costs and paid her full salary.

After a story appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday, hundreds of people inundated Casselberry City Hall and the Police Department with calls and e-mail, voicing their outrage about the suit.

The outcry got results: Late Thursday afternoon, attorney David Heil reported that Eichhorn was backing down.

"Ms. Eichhorn has decided to dismiss the suit," he said.

The lawyer likely will make that official today by filing paperwork with the court, he said.

He would not comment further, and his client could not be reached for comment. "I'm elated, of course," said an exhausted Richard Cosmillo, 69, the boy's grandfather and guardian. He had been inundated with calls for interviews while still spending hours each day with Joey, who cannot walk, talk, sit up or swallow.

The child, 22 months old, lives in a nursing home and breathes through a tube. He takes nourishment through a second tube.

"It really is an outrageous thing she was trying to do. Outrageous," Cosmillo said. "I just think that preying on people with such extreme injury is just, it's just not even human."

Wednesday, the day the story broke, Eichhorn worked part of her shift, supervising the agency's seven detectives, but she went home early.

On Thursday, she did not come in. In midafternoon, she got more bad news: Police Chief John Pavlis had filed a formal complaint against her, setting up the internal investigation.

It was prompted by the mass outpouring of criticism, said police Lt. Dennis Stewart, the Police Department spokesman. The chief did not accuse her of wrongdoing, Stewart said, but he asked the agency to re-examine the case.

The Orlando Sentinel reviewed Eichhorn's personnel file last week, and it was unblemished, but on Thursday the city produced more records, showing she had been disciplined in 1998.

According to police records, Eichhorn had used a false name four times while working an off-duty job, something the Police Department concluded may have been a tax dodge designed to hide income. She was docked a week's pay, took a $40 pay cut and was banned from off-duty jobs for six months.

Since news of the lawsuit broke, city officials have worked hard to distance themselves from it. Neither the city nor the Police Department is named in the suit, and city officials stressed that they had tried to talk Eichhorn out of filing it.

"We don't condone it," City Manager Barbara Lipscomb said.

It is important, she said, that Casselberry residents remain confident that if they call 911, the Police Department won't send an officer looking to sue them.

Even though Eichhorn plans to drop her suit, Lipscomb said the internal investigation would continue.

It's not clear how long it will last, Stewart said.

Cosmillo left his grandson's bedside at the nursing home about 7:15 p.m. Thursday. He said he would return today.

"I'll just keep doing what I'm doing," he said. "There's nothing more I can do: Hold him. Kiss him. Hug him. Talk to him."