By Stan Fisher
The New Haven Register
CLINTON, Conn. — The town will fight a $14 million jury award to a Guilford man injured in a 2005 car crash after being pursued by a Clinton volunteer firefighter.
Walter Hopkins, then 19, suffered traumatic, lifelong injuries after being thrown from a speeding car that hit a tree and flipped over on Ironworks Road as it was being pursued by a car driven by firefighter Matthew Vincent, police said at the time.
The car, registered to Hopkins, is said by Hopkins’ attorneys to have been driven by William Cardillo, then 22 and a Madison resident. Police said Jackie Douglas, 18, of Clinton was a rear- seat passenger.
According to police, the crash occurred after Hopkins’ car was involved in an accident with Vincent’s vehicle and attempted to flee. Vincent, who was en route to his job as a security guard at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets, gave chase.
According to Hopkins’ attorney, Michael Stratton of New Haven, Vincent turned on the flashing blue lights used for fire calls as he pursued Hopkins’ car.
In the key allegation of the lawsuit, Stratton claimed Vincent was “encouraged” by dispatchers in radio calls with Clinton’s emergency communications center “to chase and pursue (the Hopkins car) at high rates of speed.”
The jury found the town, through the actions of its communications dispatcher, was 90 percent responsible for the crash, explained Hartford lawyer Thomas Gerarde, who represented the town’s insurers.
Gerarde said the jury award of nearly $14 million was “not a surprise,” because the cost of Hopkins’ care was estimated at $5 to $14 million.
However, he said the jury erred in finding the town liable for the crash.
“I think our jury missed the boat on the governmental immunity issue, given that the plaintiff stipulated the dispatcher’s actions were discretionary, and the plaintiff’s own expert testified on cross-examination our dispatcher would not have known at any point that the plaintiff was at risk of imminent harm. We are planning our appeal,” he said.
Gerarde said it seemed inconceivable that a jury could conclude that a driver fleeing the scene of an accident at high speed could be held minimally responsible for causing the crash that injured Hopkins.
First Selectman William Fritz said of the verdict, “Obviously, we feel horrible for the young man injured in the accident. We wouldn’t want that to happen to anybody.”
However, he also disagreed with the jury’s conclusion that the town was responsible. “Our dispatchers in no way encouraged this gentleman to pursue that car,” he said.
Two other lawsuits arising from the accident -- one in which Cardillo claimed Douglas was the driver -- have been resolved out of court, Gerarde said. Claims against the town in both cases were voluntarily withdrawn, he said.
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