Friday, August 05, 2005
Woman Sues City After Alleged Fire Pole Mishap
SAN ANTONIO -- A 30-year-old USAA employee is suing the city of San Antonio for injuries she received when she fell trying to slide down a fire pole.
Grace Estrada has been out of work for for five months. She had back surgery in December to fuse three of her vertebrae together, all from a night of partying at Fire Station No. 10 on Oct. 29 of last year.
"Certainly, our client, as a 30-year-old, bears some responsibility to the extent that she made a bad choice, but there was some serious, serious bad choices made by the firefighters in the case," said Kevin Stouwie, Estrada's attorney.
Stouwie believes there must be some violation of department rules. The lawsuit claims Estrada and some friends met off-duty firefighters at a bar that night and were invited to the station located on Zarzamora Street.
The woman claims on-duty firefighters served them beer and invited them to try on boots and fire helmets. They also allowed them to sit on the fire truck and slide down the station's fire pole.
"The same on-duty firefighter asked her to climb on his shoulders and basically slide down the pole in tandem with him," said Stouwie.
According to the lawsuit, Estrada lost her grip and fell 12 feet to the ground below.
She also claimed that some of the women spent time in the living quarters of the firehouse that night, engaging in private interludes.
Estrada said she was not encouraged to seek medical treatment immediately and was told not to tell anyone where she was injured.
<< Home
Grace Estrada has been out of work for for five months. She had back surgery in December to fuse three of her vertebrae together, all from a night of partying at Fire Station No. 10 on Oct. 29 of last year.
"Certainly, our client, as a 30-year-old, bears some responsibility to the extent that she made a bad choice, but there was some serious, serious bad choices made by the firefighters in the case," said Kevin Stouwie, Estrada's attorney.
Stouwie believes there must be some violation of department rules. The lawsuit claims Estrada and some friends met off-duty firefighters at a bar that night and were invited to the station located on Zarzamora Street.
The woman claims on-duty firefighters served them beer and invited them to try on boots and fire helmets. They also allowed them to sit on the fire truck and slide down the station's fire pole.
"The same on-duty firefighter asked her to climb on his shoulders and basically slide down the pole in tandem with him," said Stouwie.
According to the lawsuit, Estrada lost her grip and fell 12 feet to the ground below.
She also claimed that some of the women spent time in the living quarters of the firehouse that night, engaging in private interludes.
Estrada said she was not encouraged to seek medical treatment immediately and was told not to tell anyone where she was injured.
# posted by Pete @ 4:42 PM 
------------------------------------------------------------------------