BOTHELL, Wash. -- Deciding that King County Metro Transit did not provide proper safety measures, a jury awarded a Bothell man $1.3 million after he slipped off a bus and sustained permanent, painful injuries.
Keith Knappett, 58, said he's fought Metro Transit in court for two years because he hopes they will fix the part of the steps he slipped on, a corner nosing his lawyer contends can be as slippery as compact snow when wet.
I just can't believe that one day has changed my life that much, Knappett said.
X-rays show Knappett's lower leg is held together by two metal plates and 16 screws.
I'm going to be in increasing pain the rest of my life, said Knappett, until at some point I decide I can't take the pain any more and choose to have my leg cut off.
It is extraordinarily scary, he added.
Knappett's injury happened in October 2006, as he was getting off a King County Metro Transit bus at 5th and Pike in downtown Seattle. He said the floor was wet from the rain, and when he put his foot on the yellow ridge on the top step, he tumbled out the door, landing on his left ankle.
Next thing I knew I was actually still upright, next to the bus, he said, looking down at my foot, just swaying down at the ankle -- I've described this many times -- like it was just held on by skin.
Knappett said doctors told him his ankle had jammed with such force into his lower leg that it had shattered his tibia.
On Wednesday, after a weeklong trial, a jury awarded Knappett $1.3 million dollars, saying Metro Transit failed to take basic safety measures that could have prevented the fall.
Responding to the decision, Metro Transit spokesperson Rochelle Ogershok said, We have material, non-skid material, on our steps, and we disagreed with the contention made by the customer.
Asked if they considered this an isolated incident, she responded, What I'm saying is we disagreed with the contention.
She added that Metro Transit routinely checks their steps as part of ongoing maintenance, and that it is a huge leap to extrapolate the verdict means all their buses are unsafe.
Metro Transit has 30 days from Wednesday's verdict to appeal the decision, and have not made a decision on that at this time.
