Tragedy in Houston Ends with Modest Settlement

On March 30, 2009, Leigh Boone was standing at a street corner with her bicycle, when a Houston Fire Department ladder truck responding to an alarm collided with an engine company, and within a split second rolled on top of her. She died from her injuries two weeks later on April 11, 2009. She was 29 years old.

Boone’s estate filed suit against the Houston Fire Department for wrong death, and in particular cited the competitive manner in which fire stations rush to incident scenes as a contributing factor in the accident. A total of 11 people were injured in the crash, 9 of them firefighters.

The investigation revealed that the ladder truck had the red light, and the engine had the green light. However, additional factors appear to have been involved that tend make the color of the light less of an issue. Consider one report that noted the just prior to the crash the ladder was traveling at 18 mph, 12 mph below the speed limit, while the engine was traveling at 52 mph, 22 mph over the speed limit. This report and others cite the possible operation of the Opticom device by the engine company driver as a factor by changing the traffic light to give the engine the green light.

While the cause of the accident will remain of interest to firefighters and safety officers, the bottom line is that on January 27, 2010 the City of Houston settled the lawsuit in a somewhat responsible way by agreeing to pay $225,000 to Boone’s estate. The statutory damage cap limited the total damages to $250,000, so the city was able to save $25,000. Maybe its just me, but I have this image of some young city attorney proudly reporting to the city bean-counters that he/she saved the city $25,000… at the expense of Leigh Boone’s family.