Lawsuit filed against county, paramedics
Follows woman’s jump from ambulance
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The family of a Jefferson woman who died as a result of jumping from a moving Banks County ambulance has filed suit against Banks County as well as the two paramedics who were transporting her.
According to documents obtained from the Banks County Superior Court, Stephanie Harleigh, Jamie Johnson and Christopher Johnson have filed the suit on behalf of Shannon Chandler, who died in the incident last April.
Chandler, who was a 32-year-old Jefferson resident, apparently committed suicide by jumping from the ambulance onto Hwy. 441 while she was being transported to Athens for medical attention.
A Jackson County Sheriff’s Office incident report indicated she had been picked up at the Comfort Inn at Banks Crossing for a seizure. Banks County medical unit personnel reported she had been in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend when the Banks County Sheriff’s Office was also called to the scene in the Banks Crossing area.
Suicide letters were found at the scene at which time an ambulance was called. Copies of the letter were reportedly in possession of the Banks County ambulance personnel at the time of the incident.
According to reports, an ambulance paramedic said he had turned around to get a phone to contact the hospital when he heard Chandler’s stretcher seatbelt hit the floor. When he turned around, Chandler was jumping out of the ambulance. According to the report, Chandler was talking with her boyfriend on a cell phone just before the incident.
Ambulance personnel Terry Dailey and Stan Wooten are named in the lawsuit which is asking for $1.5 million in addition to court costs. The suit contends Dailey and Wooten failed to position one of themselves in front of the rear ambulance door and allowed Chandler to use her cell phone while in route to Athens Regional Hospital.
The suit also contends that Dailey and Wooten were on notice that Chandler was suicidal, that she suffered seizures and that she was mentally unstable.
The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial in the case.
The suit was filed last September.
Banks County chairman Gene Hart said Monday that depositions have been taken in the case but he has not been notified of any further action. Banks County Clerk of Courts Tim Harper said last week no court dates have been set for the case.
Hart said he could not comment further on the lawsuit.
