A closer look at a deadly accident

Tacoma city officials, event promoters and lawyers for the family of a 6-year-old boy killed by flying debris at a monster truck show are still piecing together what caused the deadly accident. Many questions remain about the incident Jan. 16 at the Tacoma Dome, which killed Sebastian Hizey and injured another spectator. They were hurt during the Monster Jam show when a piece of metal flew out from under the truck Natural High and hit them. The News Tribune answers some of the questions raised since the accident.

What’s the status of the adult who was injured?

Improving. Edgewood resident Eric W. Smith, 30, is still recovering in the hospital. “He should be coming home pretty soon, we think,” a family spokesman said Friday.

Smith suffered injuries to his neck and jaw. He will need several surgeries to mend the damage, the spokesman said.

How long did the emergency response take?

Tacoma fire officials say their records indicate it took about 12 minutes from when medics were first alerted until the ambulance left the Dome. It appears it took about 20 minutes from when the incident happened until the gravely injured boy was delivered to a hospital.

After the incident, family members and other witnesses criticized the response, saying it took 10 minutes for medics to arrive and that as the show continued, cups had to be thrown to get the attention of security personnel.

An internal review of the incident showed “our people were moving very rapidly,” said Jim Duggan, an assistant chief with Tacoma Fire who oversees emergency medical services.

He estimated medics arrived about two minutes after the injuries happened.

Additionally, Duggan said, off-duty firefighters from Central Pierce Fire & Rescue were sitting near the injured pair and quickly rendered aid. An e-mail from one of them also said medics arrived within a few minutes, not 10 minutes later, as had been reported.

Who’s investigating the incident, and what’s been learned so far?

Tacoma’s risk management office is handling the inquiry. The scope is unclear; since the city received a letter from an attorney representing Sebastian Hizey’s family, officials are declining comment on the incident, in keeping with standard practice.

Can the city conduct an impartial inquiry when its own employees are involved?

City spokesman Rob McNair-Huff wouldn’t comment directly on the question. He said the idea of an independent agency getting involved is problematic.

“The challenge is that there is, to my knowledge, not a clear outside agency to do that,” he said.

How safe are monster truck shows in general?

Monster trucks have a better safety track record than most motor sports, said Ross Bonar, an enthusiast who runs TheMonsterBlog.com.

“The sport’s been around for 33 or 34 years, and you could count the number of serious injuries on one hand,” Bonar said. “They have a good safety record. Accidents happen, and this was definitely a freak accident.”

According to The Associated Press, at least five people have been killed and more than 40 injured at monster truck shows from 1992 to 2007. Most of the injuries were caused by trucks veering into spectators.

Those statistics are somewhat deceiving, said Rich Schaefer, a spokesman for the Monster Truck Racing Association. Most, if not all, of the fatalities were people affiliated with the racing teams or involved trucks that weren’t true monster trucks, he said.

“This is the first spectator death that I’m aware of,” Schaefer said.

What are the safety rules for monster trucks?

Each promoter functions separately, unlike other sports that operate under a single banner. Still, the industry largely adheres to standards set by major promoters and trade associations.

The Dome show was put on by Feld Motor Sports of Aurora, Ill. Feld is not a member of the Monster Truck Racing Association, and Monster Jams operates under its own rule book.

The company provided The News Tribune with a copy of its rules, which govern driver and vehicle safety. The manual includes regulations about vehicle safety systems, including roll cages, restraints for the driver and remote kill-switches for the engines.

All vehicles participating in an event are inspected beforehand, said Feld spokeswoman Amy McWethy.

Other organizations, like the Monster Truck Racing Association, require additional inspections for its members. According to the association’s rule book, member vehicles must be certified once per year and must be reinspected after a major crash or rollover.

Additionally, drivers are given the final call on safety matters.

“MTRA will back the driver 100 percent if he or she cannot fulfill his or her contractual agreement because of a safety reason,” the rule book states.

That way there’s no incentive for drivers to continue to drive when they shouldn’t, Schaefer said.

“We created our own fund to take care of our guys when they need to do that,” he said.

Was that the case for the truck involved in the Dome accident?

It’s not clear. A contract driver for Monster Jam, like Kelvin Ramer, who piloted Natural High, would forfeit pay for the event if he failed an inspection and didn’t participate in an event, McWethy said.

“If they don’t pass inspection, they don’t drive,” she said.

Schaefer of the Monster Truck Racing Association said he was unaware of a company docking a driver’s pay for reporting a safety problem.

Natural High reportedly was disabled earlier in the Dome show and removed by forklift before returning later in the evening.

Does Natural High have a history of problems?

It’s unclear. The Chevy SSR’s inspection and maintenance records likely will be at the center of the investigation into what went wrong.

The News Tribune found two reports online that seemed to indicate Natural High experienced mechanical problems last year, but Feld officials cautioned about reading too much into them.

Results posted at Monster Jam’s Web site for an event in April 2008 read:

Ramer “worked on Natural High all night and today just to get it in to competition even if he could only go 80%, but the crowd couldn’t tell the difference.”

That was just color commentary and doesn’t mean the truck was malfunctioning, said McWethy, the Feld spokeswoman.

Entries on straightupracing.com mentioned other problems for Natural High last August: “Kelvin Ramer in Natural High had a good run with a couple small wheelies and some air time but engine problems cut his run short.”

Later in the weekend-long event, “Natural High had good wheelies and a cyclone that ended with the motor losing a cylinder but he still finished his run.”

Had the truck stopped functioning, Ramer would have taken it out of the competition, McWethy said.

The vehicle’s Web site, natural highmonstertruck.com, no longer was functioning last week, but archived versions of the site could still be found. According to them, Natural High experienced its 50th show and third rollover in October 2006.

“The rollover happened Sunday afternoon,” according to an archived version of the site. “Kelvin drove Natural High back to the pits, re-beaded the front tire, did a quick inspection and went back out to complete racing.”

Is the Dome too small for a monster truck show?

No, says Mike Combs, the Dome’s manager. He said Monster Jam managers “love us because of our large floor.” The truck-show staging matches the Dome’s setup for football games – about 14,000 seats, Combs said.

The Monster Jam tour visits stadiums, speedways, fairgrounds and arenas throughout North America and Europe. The tour Web site lists more than 200 venues.

The largest are outdoor speedways and baseball stadiums (Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., for example). The trucks also play small arenas designed primarily for basketball (Arco Arena in Sacramento).

The Tacoma Dome isn’t the largest venue on the Monster Jam tour, but it’s far from the smallest.

Does the liability waiver on the back of their tickets mean Smith and the Hizey family can’t sue for damages?

Ultimately, it’s up to the court system.

Here is the standard agreement that appears on the back of tickets for Dome events:

“You assume any and all risks occurring before, during or after the event, including injury by any cause. You release management, facility, league, participants, clubs, Ticketmaster, and their respective affiliates and representatives from any related claims.”

Several factors would determine liability in case of an accident, said Steve Bulzomi, a personal injury lawyer with Messina Bulzomi Christensen in University Place.

There are risks inherent in many public events, such as baseball and hockey games, Bulzomi said. If you get beaned by a foul ball or hit by stray puck and want to collect damages, you’re probably out of luck, he said.

You go to the games knowing something like that might happen, and by buying the ticket you’ve entered into a contract saying the venue isn’t liable, he said.

“But I see nothing here a member of the public could have anticipated,” Bulzomi said of the Dome incident.

Has a claim or lawsuit been filed?

The Hizey family retained a Seattle law firm last week. Attorneys asked the city and Feld Motor Sports to preserve all the evidence related to the incident.

What legal issues might be raised in a lawsuit?

The venue and promoters might argue that the incident was a freak accident, Bulzomi said. The injured parties likely would raise questions about whether the possibility of debris flying off a truck should have been foreseen and whether additional precautions should have been taken.

Another issue would be whether anyone acted negligently.

“You never assume the risk of someone doing something negligently,” Bulzomi said.

The issues get muddier when you have a waiver. One might reasonably assume the risk of getting hit by a foul ball, but what if the batter gets mad and throws his bat into the stands?

There’s also the question of whether the waiver applies to a child.

“If my child wants to play football, I can sign a waiver, but the courts won’t enforce it,” Bulzomi said. “You can’t waive a kid’s rights.”

Staff writer Sean Robinson contributed to this report.

INCIDENT TIMELINE

The Tacoma Fire Department provided this timeline for the emergency response to the fatal accident at the Tacoma Dome monster truck show:

9:37 P.M.
Security personnel radio a medical supervisor to report there is a bad head injury in section 11B of the Dome.

9:38 P.M.
One of two medical teams assigned to the spectator area respond that they are arriving on scene. They note CPR already is in progress and that there are two patients.

The medics had been moving toward an area of commotion in the stands before the call came, but not knowing what was going on, had not been rushing at first, said Jim Duggan, an assistant chief who oversees emergency medical services.

LESS THAN A MINUTE LATER
Dispatchers receive a 911 call from the Dome, saying a child has been hit in the head with debris.

9:39 P.M.
The second medical team at the Dome arrives on the scene.

9:49 P.M.
The ambulance carrying 6-year-old Sebastian Hizey leaves the Dome for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

ABOUT SIX MINUTES LATER
The ambulance arrives, Duggan said. An exact time was not available because the driver did not push a button on his computer when the team arrived, Duggan said.

Ian Demsky, The News Tribune