Rafal Dudek
December 28th, 2006, 09:17 pm
Lets see, on Tuesday me, my bro and his wife, some friends and g/f went skiing to Keystone Mt. Everything was a blast testing out my new ski boots. Riding down the night trails about 6:30pm, I got into a collision accident with another person.
Apparently the "victim" was a 12 year old girl. I was devestated to hear what I accidently done and was worried sick all night long. But now I'm having my doubts if I actually even hit her.
Here is what happened:
I'm coming down the mountain with a bit of speed built up as that portion of the trail was kinda steep and with no sun out, the snow was turning hard and into ice. About 40 feet away in front I see 2 figures standing. One was facing west side, and the other was facing east side and looked liked one of them was bent down as if trying to either hold something on the ground or pick something up.
In any event, I panicked because I had a bit too much speed and those two figures were approaching me fast. I tried to cause myself to stop but the ski grip let go and it caused me to do a major whipeout. I must of slid about 100 feet down with my face facing the ground. I started testing all my muscles for movement to see if I broke anything. Seemed fine. As soon as I pull myself back up slightly, I hear the guy screaming at me yelling crap to stay on the blue lanes and something about me hitting his daughter in the knee.
At first I didnt see their kid. She was wearning a white jacket which was very easily blending in with the snow. The ski patrol was called in and we did a written report of what everything happened. They did a testing on the 12 year old girl and from what it appeared, they called it an isolated knee injury. Man, I was devestated. We exchanged contact information and they took her down to a medical center. After that, I pretty much could not get myself to ski down the slope anymore and had to hitch a ride down.
So the next day follows. The father calls me to inform that their girl is ok with a "small bruise" on her knee. I was relieved to hear the good news.
Now the bad news. He said that the cost for emergency thing was $100 and he asked me how I wanted to settle this. In or out of court. So I said that I'll pay that $100 since it was kinda my fault. Now, that is not really an issue. What really pissed me off was when he demanded that I pay for his whole family the full day lift tickets because they couldnt ski down the slope anymore and that it was their first down skiing down. I was like ********... the mountain would of closed down in just another hour anyway.
Then he goes off saying "Sir, you have injured my daughter's knee and now she is wearning clutches" ... That is ONE ******* HELL OF A SMALL BRUISE!!! Then he goes on saying that once they get back to Ohio, they'll do xray scans on her knee and that I'll have to pay those medical bills.
This is when I told him to pretty much "**** off and die in a fire". I told him to read the back of the ticket which clearly says you as the parent or legal guardian are fully liable for any injury or death and you cannot sue. Then he goes off saying that he knows colorado laws, I told him ******** since he lives in Ohio and he's just vacationing here. I told him that I'll be speaking with my lawyer and that if he calls me again and starts bullshitting, I'll take him to court for harrasment.
After talking with few people, they all told me the same thing not to worry because he's just trying to make himself feel better by trying to get some money out of me. From 2 of my lawyers, if the case even goes to court, it could drag on for several years and wasted time from him if the judge doesnt throw it out the window right away. They actually told me that if he does file a court case, that I can file a counter because he created a hazzard by standing still on a trail which could of caused me a great injury.
But there is just couple of things wrong here that I've been thinking about. First, the area of my whipeout was wide enough not to even touch anyone. Second, my skiis unlocked before I passed those people because I've seen him coming down from that direction with my ski's carrying them for me. Third, the initial impact would of displaced the girl somewhat and would of caused her some good amount of pain. However she was sitting there all quiet and not a tear in her eye and the person whom I saw bending down, was still bent down and holding her! So how did I manage to actually hit her knee without knocking the other person down!?
My theory on this is that the girl was injured before and now they're just trying to put a blame on someone else, meaning me. I've got a picture drawn off the portion of the trail and how I did a whipeout. Lot of things just doesnt make sense in terms of how I managed to hit a knee and nothing else especially given our positions.
Sry I had to vent, but this is just ********.
Apparently the "victim" was a 12 year old girl. I was devestated to hear what I accidently done and was worried sick all night long. But now I'm having my doubts if I actually even hit her.
Here is what happened:
I'm coming down the mountain with a bit of speed built up as that portion of the trail was kinda steep and with no sun out, the snow was turning hard and into ice. About 40 feet away in front I see 2 figures standing. One was facing west side, and the other was facing east side and looked liked one of them was bent down as if trying to either hold something on the ground or pick something up.
In any event, I panicked because I had a bit too much speed and those two figures were approaching me fast. I tried to cause myself to stop but the ski grip let go and it caused me to do a major whipeout. I must of slid about 100 feet down with my face facing the ground. I started testing all my muscles for movement to see if I broke anything. Seemed fine. As soon as I pull myself back up slightly, I hear the guy screaming at me yelling crap to stay on the blue lanes and something about me hitting his daughter in the knee.
At first I didnt see their kid. She was wearning a white jacket which was very easily blending in with the snow. The ski patrol was called in and we did a written report of what everything happened. They did a testing on the 12 year old girl and from what it appeared, they called it an isolated knee injury. Man, I was devestated. We exchanged contact information and they took her down to a medical center. After that, I pretty much could not get myself to ski down the slope anymore and had to hitch a ride down.
So the next day follows. The father calls me to inform that their girl is ok with a "small bruise" on her knee. I was relieved to hear the good news.
Now the bad news. He said that the cost for emergency thing was $100 and he asked me how I wanted to settle this. In or out of court. So I said that I'll pay that $100 since it was kinda my fault. Now, that is not really an issue. What really pissed me off was when he demanded that I pay for his whole family the full day lift tickets because they couldnt ski down the slope anymore and that it was their first down skiing down. I was like ********... the mountain would of closed down in just another hour anyway.
Then he goes off saying "Sir, you have injured my daughter's knee and now she is wearning clutches" ... That is ONE ******* HELL OF A SMALL BRUISE!!! Then he goes on saying that once they get back to Ohio, they'll do xray scans on her knee and that I'll have to pay those medical bills.
This is when I told him to pretty much "**** off and die in a fire". I told him to read the back of the ticket which clearly says you as the parent or legal guardian are fully liable for any injury or death and you cannot sue. Then he goes off saying that he knows colorado laws, I told him ******** since he lives in Ohio and he's just vacationing here. I told him that I'll be speaking with my lawyer and that if he calls me again and starts bullshitting, I'll take him to court for harrasment.
After talking with few people, they all told me the same thing not to worry because he's just trying to make himself feel better by trying to get some money out of me. From 2 of my lawyers, if the case even goes to court, it could drag on for several years and wasted time from him if the judge doesnt throw it out the window right away. They actually told me that if he does file a court case, that I can file a counter because he created a hazzard by standing still on a trail which could of caused me a great injury.
But there is just couple of things wrong here that I've been thinking about. First, the area of my whipeout was wide enough not to even touch anyone. Second, my skiis unlocked before I passed those people because I've seen him coming down from that direction with my ski's carrying them for me. Third, the initial impact would of displaced the girl somewhat and would of caused her some good amount of pain. However she was sitting there all quiet and not a tear in her eye and the person whom I saw bending down, was still bent down and holding her! So how did I manage to actually hit her knee without knocking the other person down!?
My theory on this is that the girl was injured before and now they're just trying to put a blame on someone else, meaning me. I've got a picture drawn off the portion of the trail and how I did a whipeout. Lot of things just doesnt make sense in terms of how I managed to hit a knee and nothing else especially given our positions.
Sry I had to vent, but this is just ********.