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Former Boston Councilor David Scondras is suing Lawrence police for Massachusetts police brutality. Scondras, who was the city’s first openly gay city councilor, claims that Lawrence police beat him on October 9, 2006 when he arrived at a school parking lot to meet a man who he had been flirting with online.

The man, 20-year-old Michael Fornesi, pretended he was a 15-year-old during their Internet chats. Scondras, however, claims that he knew all along that Fornesi was a legal adult but that the two of them were playing out a fantasy.

In his Lawrence, Massachusetts police brutality lawsuit, Scondras says that during his arrest, police verbally abused him, threw him onto the ground, placed a gun to his head, and kicked him. He says he broke his tooth and that Sgt. Ryan Shafer allegedly called him an anti-gay name. Scondras claims that after the attack, the police wouldn’t take him to the hospital. Scondras’s attorney says that due to the encounter his client had brain swelling and he had to undergo surgery.

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At the US Department of Transportation’s Distracted Driving Summit this week, family members who lost loved ones in car accidents involving drivers who were distracted spoke to attendees about their tragedies. One woman lost her mother of a driver who was talking on his cell phone. Another woman, a motorcyclist, was killed when she was struck at a red light by a driver who was painting her nails. And of course, there are the accounts of loved ones lost because drivers were texting while driving, reaching for a cell phone, or glancing at a PDA to “quickly” read a text message.

According to the NHTSA, almost 6,000 people died in distracted driving accidents last year. Over 500,000 others survived these auto accidents with injuries. As one man who lost his mother told the summit, “distracted drivers destroy lives.” Yet many drivers continue to engage in some form of distracted driving.

Talking on a cell phone and texting while driving have proven especially dangerous, and calls for a nationwide ban on texting has become more urgent. The CTIA-The Wireless Association reports that 110 billion texts were sent out in December 2008. Compare this figure to the 10 billion texts that were transmitted in December 2005.

On Wednesday, the Obama Administration announced that federal workers will no longer be allowed to text message while operating a motor vehicle while on the job or in a government-owned auto. According to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the government is also considering restricting truck drivers, train operators, and bus drivers from using cell phones.

In Massachusetts, there is still no ban on text messaging. Localities are allowed to decide whether to restrict cell phone use. Earlier this year, the Boston area’s transit authority announced a new policy change banning bus, trolley, and train operators from carrying cell phones and personal electronic devices while they are on the clock. The crackdown came after a trolley operator who was text messaging caused aBoston train accident that injured 49 people.

Boston car drivers are allowed to talk on handheld devices and text message while driving an auto. This can result in serious Massachusetts traffic accidents and personal injuries and wrongful deaths may ensue.

Cell Phone Ban After Boston Trolley Crash, Huffington Post, May 9, 2009
New regulation bans federal employees from texting while driving, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009
Related Web Resources:

Distracted Driving, National Safety Council

The Dangers of Distracted Driving, www.carinsurance.org

State Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association

An Examination of Driver Distraction as Recorded in NHTSA Database (PDF)
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A 3-year-old boy who was seriously injured during a Worcester, Massachusetts dog attack is reportedly so traumatized by what happened that he doesn’t want to go home. Bartolo Colon was bitten on the face by a neighbor’s pit bull on Saturday after midnight.

Colon has cuts on his face and had to get over 100 stitches. His eyes are still swollen.

The pit bull is 11-months-old and weights 85 pounds. There are no records that the dog’s shots were updated and his owners may not have obtained a dog license for him. On Saturday, animal control officers took him away.

The brother of the dog’s owner says the pit bull is normally not aggressive at all and likes kids. Colon’s mother Andrea, however, says she has complained to the landlord of the apartment building several times about the animal. In the meantime, her son is staying at his grandmother’s house.

According to DogsBite.org, pit bull-like dogs were accountable for the deaths of 52 Americans between 2006 and 2008. They also were responsible for 59% of all deadly dog attacks. Pit bulls are also involved in most off-property dog maulings that result in human fatalities.

DogsBites.org reports that from January to June 2009 318 dog attack incidents involving pit bulls and their mixes occurred resulting in 388 bite victims.

Dog mauling incidents can be traumatic, painful, and lead to lasting physical and emotional scars for the victim. Fortunately, Massachusetts has laws holding dog owners strictly liable for injuries inflicted by their dogs. In some cases, a premise owner that may not be the dog owner but who allowed the animal onto the property can also liable for premises liability.

Dog bite victims may incur costly medical expenses from reconstructive surgeries, plastic surgeries, therapy, and other treatments.

Boy traumatized by dog , Boston.com, September 28, 2009
Mid Year Results: U.S. Pit Bull Attacks 2009, DogsBite.org
Related Web Resources:
General Laws of Massachusetts

Top Ten (10) Most Dangerous Dog Breeds
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One month after 15-year-old Alessandra Castner was killed in a Marblehead, Massachusetts pedestrian accident while crossing the street, the investigation into the fatal traffic crash continues. However, the probe has become controversial following allegations by “Allie’s” father, Christopher Castner, that prosecutors are engaged in a coverup.

This week, Castner’s attorney sent Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett a letter accusing authorities of improperly concealing the name of the driver, 18. The note also alleges a conflict of interest based on the claim that Blodget is friends with the motorist’s uncle. Criminal charges have not been filed over the deadly Essex County, Massachusetts pedestrian accident. The DA’s office is denying the accusations.

To date, there is no evidence that the driver was drunk, under the influence of drugs, speeding, texting, or talking on the cell phone. Castner, however, contends that his daughter was walking in a crosswalk when the vehicle struck her and there were no skid marks on the road. Following the deadly Massachusetts pedestrian accident, Alessandra was flown to Boston Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

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A Boston Police Internal Affairs investigation is expected to heat up now that the man alleging Boston police brutality has been acquitted of assaulting his girlfriend.

Firefighter Wayne Abron claims that Boston cops David Santosuosso and Brian Dunford severely beat him when they arrived in his mother’s backyard while he and his then-girlfriend, Edwinna Wynn, were arguing loudly on March 23, 2008.

The two officers claimed that they had to pull Abron off Wynn. They say the then-41-year-old firefighter tried to hit them, which is why they called for backup.

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In Norfolk Superior Court, Judge Patrick F. Brady has ordered Boston mobsters James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi to pay $30 million for the Massachusetts wrongful death of Debra Davis. Flemmi, who was the 26-year-old woman’s boyfriend, testified of his reluctance to kill her. He said that Bulger demanded that she die because she knew too much about their connection to the FBI as informants.

Flemmi, who is in prison for life for 10 murders, has also been ordered to pay $3 million for molesting Davis’s younger sister, Michelle, as well as $500,000 for the intentional emotional trauma inflicted on Davis’s mother, Olga. Michelle and Olga are both dead so any compensation that is collected would go to their estates. Bulger continues to remain in hiding.

A federal judge has yet to issue its final ruling on whether the government should be held liable for Davis’s murder as well as for the killings of Louis Litif and Deborah Hussey. Last July, US District Judge William G. Young said that the government was liable and that the families of the three victims should each receive $350,000 for pain and suffering. The judge said that he didn’t think he was going to order the government to pay the mothers of Davis and Hussey damages for their losses of companionship and support because the victims were adults when they died.

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Over a year ago, our Boston Injury Lawyer Blog posted a story about a $10 million Massachusetts wrongful death filed against the city of Beverly and three of its police officers over the 2005 suicide death of then-19-year-old Danielle Tarsook.

The lawsuit accused the defendants of negligence in the way they handled a 911 call about a “possible suicidal female, who happened to be Danielle. After taking her to a hospital to have her admitted, they instead handed her over to her father, then-police officer Dennis Tarsook. The complaint notes that it is against police policy for officers to handle incidents that involve their family members.

Per a state police report, Danielle and her dad got into an argument and she went home without getting any medical help. She then used an electrical cord to hang herself in the bathroom of the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Matt Lewis.

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Experts are watching to determine the outcome of a clergy sex abuse case involving defrocked priest Paul Shanley. Shanley was convicted of child rape and indecent assault and battery for abusing a 27-year-old man when he was just a young boy.

The victim would go on to receive a $500,000 Boston child sex abuse settlement for his personal injuries. He accused Shanley of repeatedly abusing him when he was a Sunday school student in Newton. He said that the abuse incidents, which began when he was 6, took place in the rectory, the pews, the confessional, and the boys’ room. He said it wasn’t until the clergy sex abuse scandal occurred that he remember what happened to him.

Three other men that Shanley was initially accused of sexually abusing were later dropped from the criminal case. All four men said that they didn’t remember the abuse until years later when they recovered memories they had repressed.

Now, Shanley is questioning his conviction and the validity of repressed-recovered memories. While some experts believe that it is indeed possible to recover memories of child sex abuse, others are questioning whether such memories are reliable.

Yet there are many cases involving victims who were unable to remember the molestation incidents until years after they happened. Some child sex abuse victims were too scared to report the abuse at the time or may have been too young to even understand what was happening to them. As a result, they waited until they were older to come forward.

The Catholic Church in the US has spent over $2.5 billion in clergy sex abuse settlements. Over 550 sex abuse victims were in the Boston archdiocese.

Sexual Abuse
Regardless of how old you were when the sexual abuse happen, sex abuse is traumatic, violating, and can cause serious damage to a victim. Some people may have to spend years in therapy undoing the harm that was done to them. They may turn to drug addition, alcoholism, or suffer from eating disorders to cope. There may be grounds for filing a child sexual abuse lawsuit against the perpetrator.

Convicted ex-priest challenges repressed memories, AP, September 9, 2009
‘Repressed memory’ at issue in defrocked priest’s appealhttps://www.altmanllp.com/lawyer-attorney-1353569.html, Boston Globe, September 9, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Archdiocese of Boston

Differences In Recovered Memories Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Science Daily, February 4, 2009 Continue reading

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Four people were injured on Monday in a Jamaica Plane car accident when a motorist ran a red light, striking a Boston Fire Department vehicle. The driver of the 1998 Audi, Victor Cowart, was trying to get to his fiancé’s home after finding out the kitchen had caught fire.

Cowart struck the 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, a District 9 Vehicle, at Atherton and Amory at around 4pm. According to the Boston Herald, the SUV, which was transporting the fire chief and his driver, was also headed to the fire site and its flashing red lights were activated at the time of the Massachusetts traffic crash.

Injured in the Jamaica Plain motor vehicle crash were Cowart, a 6-year-old girl who was riding in the car with him, fire chief Robert Dowling, and firefighter Russell Boone. All of them were taken to hospitals for injuries that fortunately do not appear to be life threatening.

Cowart received a traffic citation for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. His fiancé was reportedly following the Audi in another vehicle.

Motorists are supposed to yield the right of way to emergency vehicles. They are not supposed to run a red light, neglect to make a full stop at a stop sign, drive above the speed limit, or commit any other traffic violations. Traffic laws exist not just to keep order on the streets but also to prevent Boston motor vehicle accidents from happening.

Red Light Running
Running a red light is one of the most dangerous traffic violations that a driver can commit. Examples of the kinds of Boston car crashes that can occur during a red light running accident:

Side-swipe: One car strikes the driver’s side of another vehicle.

T-bone: The front of one vehicle collides with a side door of the other vehicle, potentially causing serious injury to the person seated on that side.

When a Boston car accident occurs because a driver ran a red light, the vehicles following behind the negligent motorist may have to step on their brakes abruptly, potentially causing at least one or more rear-end crashes-again, resulting in personal injury or wrongful death.

Man hits BFD SUV on way to Jamaica Plain fire, Boston Herald, September 8, 2009
Fire chief, 3 others injured in crash, Boston Globe, September 8, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Dangers of Running Red Lights

Red Light Running, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Continue reading

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Following allegations made by a former lawyer for Toyota that it hid key records from past rollover accident plaintiffs suing for personal injury and wrongful death, the world’s auto manufacturer could find that it will be forced to defend itself against auto products liability lawsuits that the company had already settled or won.

The former Toyota attorney, Dimitrios Biller, says that he was pressured into leaving his job because he complained about the company’s alleged activities. He says Toyota got rid of testing and engineering evidence in over 300 SUV rollover lawsuits that should have been given to plaintiffs.

Biller also says that Toyota withheld a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report about roof-crush data and that there are a number of Toyota vehicles being driven on US roads today that fail to meet the company’s internally mandated safety goals. He describes Toyota’s alleged misconduct as a “systematic pattern and practice of discovery abuses and criminal acts against plaintiffs.”

Rollover Accidents
Rollover collisions are responsible for more than 30% of motor vehicle fatalities each year, claiming the lives of over 10,000 people. Auto manufacturers are responsible for designing their vehicles-in particular, sport utility vehicles, in such a way that the chances of a rollover accident happening are minimized. In the event that motor vehicle does rollover, the roof should be able to protect passengers during roof crush incidents, which can otherwise result in spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and wrongful death.

Injuries from rollover crashes often require costly, extensive medical care. One way that victims have been able to afford medical services and a lifetime spent coping with permanent disabilities and other serious injuries is to recover compensation from liable automakers. If in fact Toyota did conceal key data that could have resulted in an auto products liability plaintiff receiving a more substantial recovery-or any compensation for that matter-this is a good reason to reopen a rollover lawsuit.

Our Boston auto products liability law firm represents clients with rollover lawsuits, defective tire cases, faulty seat belt claims, and other injury and wrongful death cases that occurred because an automaker was negligent when designing or manufacturing their motor vehicles.

Toyota May Face Push to Reopen Rollover-Crash Cases, Bloomberg, September 1, 2009
Toyota Accused of Hiding Evidence, CBS, August 29, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Biller v. Toyota (PDF)

Rollover: The Hidden History of the SUV, PBS Continue reading

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