As a St Louis worker's compensation lawyer, attorney Ben Sansone represents Missouri and Illinois clients that are injured at work as a result of workplace hazards. Recently, an employee at a Halloween themed park almost died as a result of a workplace danger.
Jessica Rue may seem like most other 18 year old college students that one may encounter. Unfortunately, that is untrue. In October of 2011, Rue became employed by the Creepyworld haunted attraction in Fenton, Missouri as an actress in one of the many scary scenes visitors must walk past. The evening of October 27, 2011 was her second night on the job when something went horribly wrong.
I would like to paint the following image for you regarding her work environment before I go any further:
The scene she is working in is supposed to be a bathroom that is drenched from ceiling to floor in fake, slippery blood. Ms. Rue's character is dressed in a white wrap-around towel and dark shorts. In the bathroom, there is a noose prop in front of the bathtub portion of the scene as well as a mannequin. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen, doesn't it?
Rue had been instructed to use the noose prop to play up her character in hopes of frightening the visitors to the attraction. While doing what she had been instructed by her manger, Chelsey Rusbarsky, Jessica Rue, somehow slipped off the edge of the bathtub that was drenched in the fake blood and struggled for dear life while hanging by her neck in the noose.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office stated that for the 2 to 10 minutes that she was hanging in the noose, visitors must have assumed that she was either a prop or a very convincing actress and would have probably walked right on by to the next scene. Due to the lack of oxygen to her brain, Rue eventually passed out where she was found by co-worker Sam Israelsen who cut her down and began CPR.
This fun job gone horribly wrong left Ms. Rue in a coma for three days. Today, she suffers from a brain injury from the Fenton accident, including short term memory loss and even the doctors do not know the full extent of the neurological damage due to lack of oxygen to her brain for at least 10 minutes. It was later found out by an investigation of the haunted attraction that the noose used in her scene was not a break-away prop, but securely bolted to the ceiling so that it held her weight whereas a break-away prop would have immediately come apart to avert such a crisis.
In January 2012, Jessica Rue filed a suit against Halloween Productions, Inc. and its owner Larry Kirchner. The suit states that supervisor Rusbarsky and co-worker Israelsen were negligent and intentionally created this life threatening situation due to the fact that they had encouraged Rue and other workers to use this noose to scare visitors even though there was a slip hazard with the fake blood. In this suit, Rue is not seeking any specific amount of damages due to the fact that she will have ongoing medical bills and Medicaid will be dropping her when she turns 19.
According to Claimsjournal.com there were a reported 133 fatal work injuries in Missouri just last year in 2011. That is an increase from 2010. Fortunately, Jessica Rue's injuries were not fatal, but so easily could have been had she been left for even a few more moments. These attractions come to the Saint Louis area each year and are supposed to be fun for both the actors and the visitors. However, in the race to make the most profits, it seems that quite a few safety points were overlooked in last year's design. Hopefully other attractions in the area take note and learn from the near-deadly mistake of one very popular attraction.
If you or someone you know has a loved one who has been seriously or fatally injured in any kind of accident due to the negligence of another party, you do have options to receive compensation for this loss. For information on how to protect your rights in a situation of negligence or wrongful death, please call one of the St. Louis accident/wrongful death attorneys at 1-314-863-0500 today.
Si tu o alguien que conoces tiene un querido que se perdio su vida o se fue herido en un accidente por negligencia de otra persona que esta culpable, tienes opciones para recibir compensacion por esta perdida. Por informacion en protejer tus derechos en un situacion de negligencia o muerto por negligencia, por favor llama uno de nuestros abogados en St. Louis que especializa en accidentes y muertos por negligencia. Nuestro numero es 1-314-863-0500. Llamanos hoy para proteger sus derechos.
Sources:
StlToday.com: Brain Injury at Haunted House
http://www.claimsjournal.com - 2011 Fatal Work Injury Statistics
