A young woman out for an exciting day to view rocket launches, ended up instead horribly burned on 5 percent of her body, when one rocked was launched towards her without warning, as reported by the Huffington Post.
The woman, K.G., 21, was burned by a high-powered rocket in the buttocks area and on parts of her thighs and legs.
The incident occurred in June of 2010 in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, CA. K.G., a biotech grad from Seattle, WA, attended the annual "Large and Dangerous Rocket Ships" festival with a friend.
After the rocket was ignited, according to K.G., she sustained first and second-degree burns and lacerations from flying shrapnel and debris.
K.G. is represented by attorney Stuart Fraenkel. Fraenkel told reporters, "She won't wear short dresses or go to the beach any more. It's very upsetting."
The friend that drove K.G. to the festival and the active launch area, G.O., is not named in the lawsuit.
G.O. walked away from the parked ATV the two arrived in, while K.G. remained in the vehicle, to speak to members of the San Diego chapter of Tripoli Rocketry.
Tripoli Rocketry is a national organization working to promote amateur rocketry.
The group was readying an 18-foot tall and 300 pound rocket for launch. The rocket was modeled after the NASA rocket Delta 2.
The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, states that the rocket made by members of the Tripoli rocket club had five engines capable of producing a combined thrust of 25,000 to 30,000 newtons.
As K.G. looked on, she saw members of the group change the position of the rocket launch. Instead of its original vertical position, the rocket now extended horizontally. The alleged reason for adjusting the rocket's position was so that it could be on a lower launch rod and leave a bigger crater in the wake of the takeoff.
However, after the rocket was ignited – approximately 20 to 30 seconds later – it headed just to the right of K.G. The blast, and subsequent combination of heat, chemicals and gas, caused debris to strike K.G.
Several victims, along with K.G., were taken to the "woefully inadequate first aid station" where onlookers photographed her as her clothing was "stripped off and/or cut away to assess and treat her burns" and leaving her "in nothing but her undergarments."
According to reporters, the invasion of K.G.'s privacy caused her further humiliation and suffering. Then K.G. was flown by helicopter 75 miles away to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for further treatment.
Fraenkel said, "It is appalling to us that you have a group of individuals who literally are playing with dynamite, with no safety precautions, and obviously not playing with a full deck. Who in their right mind would lower a rocket, point it in the direction of a young woman, knowing that it could explode and ignite?"
In defense of his client, who may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Fraenkel said, "They saw her before they shot the rocket, so they could have told her the area was restricted. They also could have told her to get out of the way before they pointed the rocket sideways."
Named in the lawsuit is the San Diego branch of Tripoli Rocketry, Tripoli Rocketry and the Rocketry Organization of California. Damages have yet to be specified.
Even if you have experienced a unique or strange case of personal injury, it doesn't lessen the injury or your suffering. Contact a personal injury lawyer to help you right away!