“We heard the plane coming,” the plaintiff recalled. “You know when the bomb bays doors open, the bombs start to whistle. And when you hear the whistling, you know something’s going to be a bustin’.”
It took 36 years, but that man was finally compensated for the injury he received during the accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down in 1944 when the man’s spinal cord was severed by shrapnel. An errant bomber dropped 36 fragmentation bombs on his family’s home and land, missing his target by 10 miles.
He clearly remembers what the incoming bombs sounded like. He also remembers running. He ran almost to the front porch of his uncle’s farmhouse. Those steps proved to be his last steps – ever, taken at 12 years of age.
The boy’s father, uncle, and two of his young cousins were killed in the tragic accident.
Because of the severity of his spinal cord injury, he has been unable to take most jobs and finds it hard to hold down one he does get. Being confined to a wheelchair makes it difficult.
At the time of the settlement, 1980, the man was awarded $18,000 a year for the rest of his life – an amount that would go up as the cost of living went up. He had planned to use the money to fix up his small home.
The Department of the Army in The Bronx and Brooklyn tried to avoid the settlement by insisting that the statute of limitations for any claim was long over, but the man’s legal counsel sought Congressional help for his client who had been living on welfare payments at the poverty line.
A doctor said that cases like this should never be cases. “When one entity harms another entity, the best in human nature says the harmed should be compensated as justly as possible. It is quite unfortunate that people do not automatically try to do such. It’s really indicative of people at large when even the federal government must be legally forced to make restitution.”
The aid of a New York Spinal Injury Attorney can be highly beneficial when pitting yourself against a seemingly unassailable opponent in court. The dedicated professional will see your case through to the end.