What Happened?
On June 28th, 2017, Vernon, an ambulatory cerebral palsy patient, was preparing to board an Access-A-Ride van to go to his doctor’s appointment. On past occasions, and as the Access a Ride rules dictate, the driver of the van would come around and assist Vernon onto the lift allowing him to enter the van. However, on this day, the driver of the van decided it was more important to continue the call on his cell phone instead of helping Vernon. As a result, Vernon fell backward off the lift and landed flat on his back in the street. Vernon’s sister, Doreen, was in the house and ran outside to find Vernon on the ground with his head bleeding.
While Doreen and other witnesses came to Vernon’s aide, the driver of the Access-A-Ride said nothing to Doreen, got into the van, and drove away while still on the phone! Doreen called 911 and Vernon was taken by ambulance to Maimonides Medical Center.
Vernon was very shaken up and in a lot of pain after the accident. As a result of his fall, Vernon injured his head and neck/spine that required surgery. He suffered from post-traumatic headaches and was confined to his bed for approximately one month. Arthritic changes to the spine can be expected, and Vernon is a candidate for further pain management and surgical intervention. Vernon, who was quite mobile at the time of the accident, has lost his ability to get around as he was accustomed to doing. Essentially, Vernon has now lost any semblance of independence he once had due to the negligence of this driver.
Another sister of Vernon and Doreen had a legal matter that was handled by The Case Handler team. After Vernon’s accident, their sister recommended that they contact Adam Handler! With the help of our Brooklyn Access-a-Ride accident attorneys at PPID, we successfully recovered a $2.5 million dollar settlement for Vernon! He will now have all the resources he needs to be comfortable and cared for, for the rest of his life.
