On January 9th of this year a toddler in a suburb of Orlando managed to get outside and fall into the family's swimming pool. He was fished out by his mother, who called 911 as she ran through the house carrying her dripping wet, unconscious baby. Emergency personnel were able to get him breathing again, but he was left profoundly disabled, so the now-two-year-old little boy currently lives in a nursing home. 
I said it was tragic. 
There was a secondary accident that day, it turns out. One of the police officers who responded slipped on a puddle of water (caused by the sopping wet mother and child, of course) fell, and broke her kneecap. Her injury caused her to be off work for two months on paid leave-of-absence.
She filed a lawsuit against the family.
[Sgt. Andrea] Eichhorn, a 12-year department veteran, would not discuss the suit. Her
attorney said those benefits, paid by the city's workers' compensation
carrier, were not enough. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money.
Eichhorn, he said, is a victim. Her knee aches, and she will likely develop arthritis.
If the Cosmillos had made their pool baby-proof, police would not have
been called to the scene, there would have been no water on the floor,
and Eichhorn would not have hurt herself, he said.
"It's a situation where the Cosmillos have caused these problems,
brought them on themselves, then tried to play the victim," he said.
The original story may be read here.
You know, it's not that there isn't some validity to that point, as it was remiss to not have the pool properly baby-proofed before little Joey (that's his name) began to walk, but for pity's sake, the baby was a year old! It's not as if he were two or three. Most likely he hadn't been walking long, and his family simply wasn't accustomed to thinking in terms of his being able to get outside without them.
I can relate. But to sue the broken-hearted family? What sort of a creep IS that woman? 
An additional story has been posted, saying Andrea Eichhorn has been placed back on leave, and that she intends to drop the lawsuit.
Apparently the public wasn't supportive of her decision to sue. 
Hopefully by the time her mother leaves, Beth'll be back in fine fettle.
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