Parents of drowned teen file Law suit against Fire Department and City

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Upstate Scuba OWI

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[h=1]Parents of drowned teen file suit[/h][h=2]Derek Lodestein fell into Terrace Lake[/h]Updated: Thursday, 01 Mar 2012, 8:20 AM EST
Published : Thursday, 01 Mar 2012, 7:46 AM EST

COLUMBUS, Ind. (The Republic) - The family of an Iowa teenager who drowned in a frozen Columbus neighborhood lake is suing multiple entities for the death, 24-Hour News 8 news partner The Republic reports.
Three teens were walking on Terrace Lake in December 2010 when they broke through the ice. Two of the teens survived, but 16-year-old Derek Lodestein, of Davenport, Iowa, died.
The death prompted Columbus to invest in training and gear to outfit a dive team of its own.
Lodestein’s parents are suing the city, county and state; eight police, fire or water rescue agencies; the Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation and the Terrace Lake Lot Owners Association.
The lawsuit, in part, claims the agencies acted with negligence by not successfully rescuing Lodestein. At the time, there weren’t any ice-trained divers in Bartholomew County. Although local police and fire crews responded within a few minutes, the lawsuit says the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Dive Team was notified at 7 p.m. and entered the lake at 8:50 p.m.
Parents Linda Gotkin and Brian Lodestein are suing for unspecified damages. Their lawsuit was filed Wednesday.
 
Sad, unnecessary death.

Sad, unnecessary lawsuit.

Lament the demise of personal responsibility.
 
God forbid anyone take responsibility for their own actions! I got a piece of road dirt in my eye due to a breeze here today. Who should I sue, the state dept. for sanding or the weather man for not telling me the wind might blow the dirt into my eye. This is why our legal system sucks, way too many ambulance chasers and STUPID people trying to get rich quick. Yes it's a shame this kid died but is it really the fault of others? I think not. This is my opinion and again if I have offended you, tough, get over it.
 
Where I grew up, having a youth fall through the ice was a yearly thing. The police would tell you when it was safe to be on the ice or not, and low and behold some teenager would be playing on the ice, and inevitably go through during one of those unsafe time.

If the person is a minor, the parents should be charged, for that youth trespassing, and tying up valuable rescue resources.

Hopefully the lawsuit gets thrown out, there is no way the local authorities have any responsibility here. The amount of time this kid had, there would have needed to be a rescue diver in the water waiting for him to fall through
 
a google search yeilds no results of the status of the case but this link has better info of what the family claim is.

http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-dere...-lake-files-lawsuit-20120301,0,6796826.column

I though this quote from it was interesting
"According to the lawsuit, Lodestein’s parents claim emergency responders “owed a duty to Derek Lodestein to respond in a timely and adequate manner.” The 911 call was placed at approximately 6:40 p.m. and officers with the Columbus Police Department arrived three minutes later. However, parents claim other emergency responders took longer to arrive. At approximately 7 p.m., Lodestein was unable to stay afloat and drowned.

The plaintiffs argue the responders were “negligent in the hiring, training, and retention of those members, officers, agents, and/or personnel involved in the negligent rescue and death” of Lodestein. Additionally, the lawsuit claims responders were negligent in failing to retrieve Lodestein’s body, which was located two hours after the teenager drowned.

The Terrace Lake Lot Owners Association is listed in the lawsuit for failing to display warning signs, fences, or other restrictions to prevent trespassers. The plaintiffs claim the association should have known children would be attracted to the lake, so therefore, it was their duty to display warning signs."
 
The way this sounds is like the local EMS didnt have a ice rescue team. With a population of 44,000, I would think that they would have a ice resuce team in Indiana. Looks like he was stuck in the ice and perished waiting for help.

Several years ago, my neighbor perished in his pond. The local EMS arrived and the two EMT responding didnt know how to swim so they couldnt pull my neighbor floating body to the shore to begin CPR. They lost vaulable minutes waiting for the local PD to show up and the LEO's went in after him.
 
With a population of 44,000, I would think that they would have a ice resuce team in Indiana.
Having spent time on response teams and in municipal government, unfortunately the key these days isn't need but funding. "Peripheral" services, whether they are public safety, public works or educational are always the first cuts.
 

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