Luke Bresette Victim of Tragedy

For no apparent reason an electronic sign falls and kills an innocent little boy.  Sound like Final Destination 2013? Well perhaps in Montgomery, Alabama the next movie will be based on reality. sounds a lttle too accurate.  In the local airport, a 300-pound arrival-departure panel fell off the wall and onto a family killing Luke Bresette, a young boy.  Heather Bresette, Luke's mother and two of his brothers were seriously injured by the panel at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Heather had two broken ankles and a crushed pelvis.  She is in intensive care and sedated. Five year-old Tyler, suffered a concussion. Eight year-old Sam suffered a broken nose and a broken leg.

The Bresettes family was coming back from spring break in Destin, Florida when the tragedy occurred. Ryan Bresette, Luke's father, and an older brother and sister were not injured. It took six people to lift the large board off the victims so that first responders could attend to the injured.  Almost immediately investigators started pondering how this could have happened at the newly renovated airport which opened on March 13. The family may never recover from this emotional loss.  Groups in Birmingham and Kansas City are collecting donations for the family. Luke was 10 years-old.

Falling Down May Not Always Be Fake... But It Is Almost Always Preventable By Exercising Reasonable Care For One's Own Safety!

Are there really people faking fall downs or are these people just not exercising common sense and looking where they are walking?  A common accident in the workplace may involves a slip or trip and fall. After an expensive visit to an ER or local Urgent Care, in steps the so called victim's attorney gives the defendant a call. Costs add up quickly and suddenly it is no longer about principal, it is all about money. The cause of the fall is almost always the plaintiff not looking where he is stepping; however, the plaintiff's advocate takes a bet that a jury will abandoned common sense and award his client money.

Failure to keep a proper lookout is contributory negligence in most states. In some states such as Alabama, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, or Virginia, any contributory negligence on the part of a plaintiff will be a complete defense no matter who the defendant may be.  Other states have longstanding law that if the defendant is a governmental entity, then any contributory negligence on the part of a plaintiff will prevent the plaintiff from obtaining a judgment against that defendant. (For example, Indiana’s comparative fault law is not applicable to lawsuits brought against governmental entities and thus any contributory negligence on the part of a plaintiff acts as a complete bar to any recovery of damages. If a jury determines that the injured party is just 1% at fault, the injured party will not receive any damages even though the City or State may have been 99% at fault.  Consequently if a person fall downs on the property owned or maintained by a governmental entity, Indiana law recognizes that if the plaintiff was at fault for not looking where he is stepping, then such a plaintiff may not recover any monetary damages.)

In addition to legitimate falls, there is growing concern about people faking falls.  (See video above.) A person may have a conscious or unconscious incentive to get out of work or to see a health care provider for a chronic condition at someone else's expense.  This unfortunate scenario seems to becoming more common in our litigious society. A growing group of people have now been caught purposely tripping on sidewalks and in stores.  Doesn't it seem a bit too coincidental that a person's best friend or relative just happens to catch the fall all on video?  The video is almost always impressive and is typically used like a crowbar to extract a settlement offer or ultimately threatened to be used to  inflame a jury. Think about it!  What are the odds that a friend or family member just happens to video a fall? (Some staged fall videos are included below.)

Uneven concrete is a common, unavoidable consequence of sidewalks being exposed to the extremes in weather.  It is impossible to have completely level outdoor sidewalk surfaces. Particular caution needs to be exercised with regard to manhole covers, drains and gratings. From our early youth we are taught, "watch your step." Yet whenever someone falls, they are quick to blame their fall on someone else and almost never except responsibility for their own failure to keep a look out.  Lookout is so important that it is hard to navigate anywhere without our sense of sight. Yet those who refuse to lookout for their own safety often expect juries to ignore their common sense when interpreting the law which requires people to exercise reasonable care for their own safety. Being careful while walking around uneven surfaces or slippery areas is common sense; however, when someone falls, they are often looking for "cents" that add up to large dollar verdicts or settlements. It is no wonder that the cost of doing business, procuring insurance or running a governmental entity in the U.S. has become so cost prohibitive in this litigious society.

A man is under a duty to use common and ordinary caution for his own good. Even if a defendant being at fault will not dispense with the requirement that the plaintiff must use ordinary care for himself. While perhaps one may expect to encounter less trip hazards indoors, ignoring potential trip hazards while walking outdoors is simply not responsible.



Article Sources include:

 http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pms4EkLI_NA
 How to Fake A Fall
 Faking A Fall To Get Out of School
 Best Ways To Hurt Yourself at Work
 Fake Fall Down For T.V.

 Youtube Video above.

Do Courts Need More Security?

Some say our court system is not safe.  Others advocate that the inconvenience of security in the courthouse outweighs any potential benefit.  Consider a recent event in Pakistan.  A suicide bomber literally blew himself up in court on Monday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.  Four people were killed and 47 more wounded. Two militants shot and wounded policemen apparently in the court gallery. One bomber managed to get into the courtroom and detonate his explosives.

Twenty-seven of the wounded remain hospitalized. The female judge was among the wounded. It is believed that the bombers were trying to free Taliban militants jailed on the premises. Also among the wounded was an attorney.
Qari Abdul Hayee (a.k.a. Asadullah), a former leader of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group was arrested on Sunday.  Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a Sunni Muslim militant group that has terrorized minority Shiite Muslims in the region. Recently, gunmen riding on a motorcycle murdered a Shiite professor, Sibt-e-Jafar, on Monday.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the courtroom attack; however, such senseless violence emphasizes the need for tight courtroom security both in the U.S. and abroad.

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Police Should Treat Spammers Like They Did Michael Chadd Boysenan

Warning to Spammers:  If the spamming continues, you will be sued in court for the cost of advertising!

If only the authorities would storm the residences of spammers like they did the Oregon motel room on Tuesday when they arrested Michael "Chadd" Boysenan, a 26 year-old ex-convict. Police blew out windows with a water cannon and forced the exterior door off its hinges.   Then a sea of officers entered the WestShore Motel room in Lincoln City. Boysenan is accused of killing his grandparents in Renton, Washington after they had thrown him a party to celebrate his release from prison. (Boysenan had served time for burgalry.)

At the time of his arrest, Michael "Chadd" Boysen, had self-inflicted knife wounds.  According to Reuters, he put up no resistance. No officers were hurt in the raid. Norma and Robert Taylor are the deceased grandparents of Boysen.

Boysenan is consider innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law; spammers are not!

Julio Acevedo Needs to Turn Himself In and Do the Right Thing...

Hit and run has become too common of an occurrence.  While it is possible to understand a driver's fear and even panic, humanity requires a driver to exercise primary concern for potentially injured parties. Police are searching for a man suspected of driving the car that killed a pregnant woman (Raizy Glauber), her husband and their premature child.  Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21 died on Sunday. Their 4lb prematurely born child died on Monday.  The cab driver survived with relatively minor injuries. The victim's Hasidic Jewish community has offered a $15,000 reward for the driver's arrest.


Julio Acevedo, 44, was allegedly driving his BMW about 60 mph when the collision occurred with a cab.  The BMW was apparently registered to Takia Walker. (Walker was not, however, involved in the actual crash.) Acevedo is allegedly planning on surrendering to authorities. Acevedo allegedly told the Daily News of New York that he was fleeing from a gunman who was trying to shoot him when the accident in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn occurred. Acevedo allegedly told the Daily News that he fled the scene because he was worried he'd be killed. Acevedo also allegedly told the newspaper, "I didn't know they died until I saw the news."  According to the Associated Press, Acevedo was allegedly meeting with a lawyer and was arranging to turn himself in to authorities.

Acevedo is apparently no stranger to the criminal justice system.  was previously arrested last month for allegedly driving while under the influence. His blood alcohol was allegedly .13.  He also served time in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter after he was convicted of shooting Kelvin Martin.  Martin, whose moniker "50 Cent", was supposedly the inspiration for rapper Curtis Jackson's stage name.
While Acevedo may be scared, he is presumed innocent.  He needs to turn himself in and leave his fate up to the justice system. If he is innocent, he will be vindicated. If found guilty, he needs to be held accountable for his actions.