Where's
the justice for David Sutton?
 We're
writing this letter to express the anguish we feel over
the decision to toss out of court Dave Sutton's case concerning
his accident on the Golden Gate Bridge! Where's the justice?
Here was a decent, hard working guy doing his job when all
of a sudden, because of there being "no room for error"
on that bridge, another car hits him and creates a fatal
accident, causing Mr. Sutton to lose his leg and a hand
and to be severely burned for the rest of his life.
Look how many other people have died or been maimed because
of no barrier on the bridge. That should have been a priority
20 years ago, The anguish lies in the fact that these people
cannot even get close to being compensated for their ordeal.
We own seven acres, and if you came on our land and really
injured yourselves, you could sue the pants off us, and
probably own our land.
Photograph: Frank Schweiger
expressing his anger over his accident
with David Sutton. This was taken during
the petition drive in March of 1996.
Why is the bridge any different? The district charges $3
to cross the highest toll of any bridge I know, although
it was supposed to be free after it was paid for years ago.
But since the district has raised the toll, why hasn't a
barrier or lower deck been built before now? It would have
prevented all these unnecessary accidents.
So now the bridge district is going to put up a barrier
and take all the credit for it, when in fact it should definitely
be marked as "The Sutton Barrier," because Mr.
Sutton is the first person to "win the right to sue"
and demand immediate action on that barrier. The politics
on this issue are absurd. Who's the judge? What happened
to the rights of people and to fair justice? The bridge
district says it's exempt from any lawsuits. Why should
that be? How is Mr. Sutton supposed to live now? And what
about the many others marred or mangled on this most dangerous
bridge? It's just not right that there is no compensation
whatsoever for the survivors of crashes on any bridge, but
mainly the Golden Gate. The people who OK'd the design and
gave appraisal to build the Golden Gate sure never looked
to the future! I guess they never had a clue that there
would be a population explosion in California, which causes
more people to drive. Bottom line: How can a person "win
the right to sue" after a long struggle, only to have
a judge toss out the case? It's not our fault the bridge
is unsafe.
Karen
and Mark Pera
Glen Ellen, CA. "97"
Comment: To think that David Sutton was the first victim
to successfully bring a lawsuit against the Golden Gate
Bridge, Highway & Transportation District due to a head-on
collision. So you think they should call it the Sutton Barrier.
Just remember one thing, Let it be know, and Let it be said.
There have been thirty-seven other victims of a head-on
collision well before Mr. Sutton had his, and Mr. Robert
M. Guernsey had started his campaigned to stop all head-on
collision's on the world famous bridge as far back as October
28, 1989, so maybe they should call it "The Golden
Guernsey Bridge Barrier." Or the "Frank Schweiger
Barrier", or the "Clem Gutierrez Barrier"
(Died in the collision of David Sutton accident).
"Unfair
and unjust"
I was really shocked and disgusted with Judge Taylor's decision
to throw out the upcoming trial of the David Sutton/Golden
Gate Bridge District case, which had tentatively been approved
The overwhelming
evidence of gross negligence on the part of the Bridge District
needs to be brought to the public's attention, and it is
certainly common knowledge that a median barrier should
have, and could have, been placed on the bridge years ago.
Of course, the Golden Gate Bridge District is running seared
and may have influenced the judge's decision, so as to keep
damaging information on some of its practices from coming
out in court. This case had every right to be presented
in court. All the facts and evidence were there to substantiate
the truth. The decision was unfair and unjust.
F.Sutton, Redwood Valley (IJ, April 18)
.
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