A woman is using the state Department of Corrections, contending the agency did not do enough to supervise an ex-con charged with purposefully running her over with a car.
Kathie Lee Larson seeks unspecified damages for “immense pain and suffering” and “mental anguish and emotional distress.” Larson’s adult children – Justina Schwartz and Hans Larson – also are seeking damages.
Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said Monday that the agency would have no comment on the lawsuit.
“We normally don’t comment when it hits litigation,” he said.
Larson suffered life-threatening injuries when a car hit her June 26, 2008, as she tried to walk across a downtown Tacoma street, according to her lawsuit.
Police arrested Aiyisha G. Gillepsie not long after the incident, and prosecutors charged her with first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an injury accident and one count of possessing a stolen vehicle.
Gillepsie, 29, has pleaded not guilty. She’s being held in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Prosecutors contend Gillepsie intentionally ran down Larson before steering a stolen SUV at two other women and then fleeing, according to records in her criminal case.
Gillepsie has a history of mental illness, according to court documents, and was convicted of third-degree assault in 2006 after she tried to run over another man and then ran another vehicle off the road.
In a 2007 report, community corrections officer Sabra Dotson wrote that Gillepsie “has the propensity to cause harm to those she encounters” and “refuses to take her mental health medications due to the side effects they cause.”
Gillepsie was under the supervision of the Corrections Department when she allegedly ran down Larson, according to the injured woman’s lawsuit. The department was negligent in its monitoring of Gillepsie’s behavior, which contributed to Larson being hit, the lawsuit contends.
“In the 17 months in which the DOC was responsible for the supervision and control of Ms. Gillepsie, she violated the conditions of her release many times, committed additional crimes and her mental health deteriorated to the point at which she posed an unreasonable danger to the community,” the lawsuit states.
Gillepsie is to go to trial in February. A Pierce County judge has found her competent to proceed.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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