Student Sues UC San Diego For Not Stopping Her From Protesting
San Diego, CA Jan 9 2018–A University of California-San Diego (UCSD) student who was hit by a vehicle when she willingly walked into an eight-lane freeway in the middle of the night during an anti-Trump march in 2016 has filed a lawsuit against the university and several other entities, blaming them for her injuries.
The personal injury and property damage lawsuit was filed in November, 2017, by 19-year-old UCSD sophomore Maria Flores, The College Fix reported.
In addition to UCSD, the complaint also listed the University of California Regents, the city and county of San Diego, the state of California, and the driver of the vehicle as defendants.
The protest was orchestrated in response to the announcement that Donald Trump had won the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election, The Guardian reported.
Students gathered on Library Walk and marched throughout the UCSD campus as they criticized the president-elect, and eventually made their way to a nearby interstate in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016.
The protesters then walked across the freeway lanes, and positioned themselves in an “S” formation, with the intention of stopping southbound traffic.
While authorities rushed to shut down the busy roadway, a driver managed to get around an emergency vehicle that was attempting to intercept traffic, The College Fix reported.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the car hit Flores at about 1:40 a.m.
The impact crushed Flores’ pelvis and fractured her leg, The Guardian reported.
According to her attorney, Gene Sullivan, Flores also sustained other injuries, and has permanent disabilities, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Sullivan claimed that Flores’ injuries will cost millions of dollars in medical treatment throughout her lifetime, and argued that UCSD is partially responsible for her damages because the school failed to stop the demonstration, The Guardian reported.
“We think it’s a case of shared responsibility of the school, Maria and the driver, and we’re not saying that anybody is without fault or fault-free,” Sullivan told the Los Angeles Times. “We think other people bear some responsibility as well.”
Sullivan alleged that UCSD knew the demonstration was going to occur and chose not to stop it, The Guardian reported.
Sullivan said that the university showed support for the demonstration – simply by their failure to act against it.
He also said that UCSD failed to warn Flores that no one was providing security at the demonstration.
“It’s a long-established rule that a university or any public entity has a duty to protect their students and have them be safe,” Sullivan told The Guardian.
The lawsuit requests compensation for attorney fees, court costs and unspecified damages, the Los Angeles Times reported.
themaven.net
