In October 2000, in the mountains of Utah, three-year-old Gage Wayment
wandered away from his father's truck and died of exposure.
In July 2001, his father, Paul Wayment, was due to begin serving a 30-day jail sentence for negligent homicide. Instead, he
killed himself in the area where his son was found.
Now, Paul Wayment's parents have
filed two million-dollar claims against the search and rescue teams alleging that had they "conducted an appropriate and proper search," the boy and his father would still be alive.
It appears the search teams are protected by the
Utah Good Samaritan Act, unless they can be shown to have been grossly negligent, but this lawsuit may still have a
chilling effect on future search-and-rescue operations.
posted by mr_crash_davis
on Dec 3, 2001 -
29 comments
