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Former Santee Police Officer Brian Keith Brown pleaded guilty in connection with the automobile collision that took the life of John Donald "Donnie" Stroman in 2002. But Stroman's wife says the people who tried to save her husband are also at fault.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Nancy Stroman says that many were negligent in responding to the collision that took her husband's life, from the agency that designed the intersection where the incident occurred to the rescue agencies that took an hour and 39 minutes to remove her husband from the automobile.
She paints a picture of chaos in her lawsuit, with rescue workers requesting, then sending back, then requesting again, a medical helicopter for her husband. The Hurst Jaws of Life ran out of gasoline. She had to be transported in the back of a pickup truck after the ambulance broke down.
According to police, Brown was driving a Santee police cruiser -- a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria -- east on S.C. Highway 210 on Oct. 31, 2002, on his way back to assist officers at an Elloree Halloween celebration. He struck the driver's side of a 1996 Plymouth Voyager minivan driven by Stroman's husband that had exited off Interstate 26 and was about to travel west on S.C. 210.
The agencies that responded to the scene included the Santee Police Department, Orangeburg County Emergency Medical Services, the Santee Fire Service and the now-defunct Cow Castle Volunteer Fire Department.
Stroman and her husband were airlifted to Palmetto Richland Hospital in Columbia. Stroman was admitted to the hospital in fair condition. Her husband died en route.
In August 2003, Stroman filed a lawsuit naming as defendants several agencies and individuals, including the Town of Santee; Orangeburg County; Orangeburg County Fire District aka Orangeburg County Fire Service; Cow Castle Volunteer Fire Department; Santee Fire Service District and the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
She is asking $1.2 million in damages for loss of consortium, wrongful death, survival of right of action and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In her lawsuit, Stroman and her attorney allege that when the Orangeburg County Fire District aka the Orangeburg County Fire Service, the Cow Castle Volunteer Fire Department and the Santee Fire Service District arrived on the scene, they chose the option of mechanically and forcefully removing the roof, hatchback door and back passenger sliding door of the vehicle with the Jaws of Life.
People on scene asked emergency workers why they didn't move the town of Santee police cruiser from the side of the Stromans' vehicle so the couple could be removed more easily through the driver's side door, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit contends that emergency workers refused to consider the option of moving the cruiser.
According to the lawsuit, when emergency workers from the Orangeburg County Fire District and the Cow Castle Volunteer Fire Department attempted to start the Jaws of Life to begin the removal of the roof, hatchback door and the passenger sliding door, it failed to start. After repeated attempts to start it, the lawsuit contends that an official removed the gas cap and found that the tool was out of gas.
They were eventually able to start the Jaws of Life and proceeded to remove the roof, hatchback door and the sliding passenger door from the Stromans' vehicle.
According to the lawsuit, neither Stroman nor her husband were pinned within the passenger compartment of the vehicle and no part of the vehicle had to be removed from compressing either of their bodies.
The rescue workers later decided they would move the police cruiser and remove the Stromans from the vehicle through the driver's side door.
The lawsuit states that Donnie Stroman remained in the van for more than one hour and 39 minutes, the whole time consciously suffering excruciating physical, mental and emotional pain. Nancy Stroman was forced to endure more than 99 minutes of her husband's constant pleas of "what is taking them so long to get us out of here?" as they both lay helpless during the prolonged extrication, according to the lawsuit.
Nancy Stroman remained in the vehicle for more than two hours and thirteen minutes, also suffering excruciating physical, mental and emotional pain, she says. She suffered a torn descending thoracic aorta, a subarachnoid hemorrhage, left rib fractures, a right ankle fracture and various lacerations, contusions and abrasions.
Once the Stromans were extracted from the vehicle, the ambulance in which they were being transported broke down. Nancy Stroman was treated and transported in the back of a pickup truck to the site of the Medivac helicopter.
The lawsuit charges emergency workers called and then cancelled the helicopter. It had to be called again to transport the couple to a Columbia hospital.
Brown entered a plea of guilty to reckless homicide before Judge James Williams in General Sessions Court on June 6, 2006. He was sentenced to seven years, suspended to three years probation.
In the lawsuit, Stroman and her attorney also name the South Carolina Department of Public Safety and the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
They are charged with "negligently and recklessly designing the S.C. 210/Interstate 26 overpass so as to produce insufficient sight distance to allow for the safe operation of vehicles," and failing to place appropriate signs, signals, warning devices and illumination devices in the area of the overpass.
In a response to the allegations of the Stroman lawsuit, Orangeburg County, Orangeburg County Fire District and Cow Castle Volunteer Fire Department answered that the Highway Patrol or medical care providers that were not employed by them who gave medical direction or treatment either during or after the time that they rendered their services, or both, may have negligently damaged the Stromans.
And in a later answer to an amended complaint, they categorically deny all the allegations of Nancy Stroman's complaint.
Pete Poore of the S.C. Department of Transportation said his department does not comment on any case that is under litigation. Sid Gaulden of the S.C. Department of Public Safety also refused any comment on the case for the same reason.
When asked for comment on the case, Gene Ball, Orangeburg County Fire System Coordinator, said, "I have no other comment than to say, as volunteers, we do the best we can to help as many people as we can. We try, but we're just people."
T&D Staff Writer Thomas Brown can be reached by e-mail at tbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.