By Alexandra Mayer Hohdahl
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
WILMINGTON, Mass. — A former Wilmington resident, issued a citation after crashing into an ambulance more than three years ago, is suing the town, seeking $118,000 in hospital expenses and compensation for “pain and suffering.”
Sheri Cuoco alleges in her Middlesex Superior Court lawsuit that she suffered neck, back and head injuries during the crash that led to a stroke and has required “ongoing medical care.”
Cuoco says the town is liable because the Wilmington ambulance involved in the crash crossed the intersection of Concord and Woburn streets “against a red light” on Aug. 8, 2003.
“As a result of the negligence of the defendant’s employee ... Sheri Cuoco suffered lost wages and serious injuries,” the lawsuit reads.
Town Manager Michael Caira declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it is “something that will be handled by our insurance.”
Cuoco is seeking to recoup hospital expenses amounting to $66,443 and doctor expenses of $5,500, as well as $1,000 in lost wages and $15,000 in anticipated future medical expenses. Cuoco is also looking to get $30,000 for “pain and suffering.”
Cuoco, 33, used to live on Federal Street and now lives in Revere.
In her crash report, Cuoco wrote that she was crossing the intersection when the ambulance arrived at “a high rate of speed, failing to stop for the red light on Woburn Street” before colliding with Cuoco’s 2000 Ford Explorer.
State law calls for ambulance drivers to fully stop at intersections, but they can then drive through them “contrary to any traffic signs or signals” if they are transporting patients or performing a public duty. The ambulance involved in the crash had been called for an emergency on West Street.
Cuoco, who noted in the report that she was not wearing a seat belt, was transported to Lahey Clinic after the accident with what she said were “incapacitating” injuries. Cuoco writes that the ambulance’s driver told her at the hospital that “these old trucks have no pickup.”
But the ambulance driver, Dartmouth Avenue resident David Currier, wrote in his report that he “slowed to a crawl” as he approached the intersection with his lights and siren on. He noted that he saw a gray car “come to a complete stop” on the road where Cuoco allegedly came from.
“I was well into the middle of the intersection when I saw a brown truck bearing down on us,” he wrote. “It must have gone around the gray car.”
The police report on the accident notes that an investigation found Cuoco to have passed the gray car that had stopped to let the ambulance through. Cuoco was then issued a citation for “failure to use care in passing.”
Wilmington has yet to respond to the lawsuit, according to court records.