2 Of The People Injured In Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse To Take Legal Action
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Two of the people injured in the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse are suing, targeting the city of Pittsburgh, PennDOT and the Port Authority.
Notices of intent to sue were sent out Wednesday by the family's attorney, and this is just the beginning of what could be a very lengthy legal process.
Friday marks two weeks since the bridge collapsed into a ravine in Frick Park. Four cars and a Port Authority bus were swallowed with it, injuring 10 people.
Two of the people injured were Tyrone and Velva Perry, who were traveling in their red pick-up truck across the bridge that morning. KDKA-TV talked to their daughter, Erin Perry, shortly after the collapse.
"He said that he saw the end of the bridge buckle, and he saw the back of the bridge fold up from the rearview mirror. He closed his eyes and they fell," she said.
Both suffered serious injuries, including broken backs, as a result of the collapse.
Watch: KDKA's Bryant Reed reports:
"It brings tears to my eyes because it could have been a different ending," Erin Perry told KDKA-TV. "They could have lost their lives."
As they continue to recover at home, the couple has taken their first steps legally, filing notices on intent to sue. In a release Thursday, the family's attorneys said the notice is meant to inform the agencies of serious harm the Perrys suffered.
It goes on to say preliminary reports prove the condition of the deteriorating bridge was known to the city and PennDOT and was a "complete failure of governmental responsibility for public safety and to the Perrys."
The family is demanding that the parties responsible for the maintenance of safe public bridges and highways act now to prevent something like this from happening again.
