MARYSVILLE The Marysville student hit by a bus last year is asking the Marysville School District and Snohomish County for $50 million, roughly half of the school districts annual budget.
Keito Swan was hit by a Marysville school bus on Oct. 27 when crossing 108th Street NE from his house a stones throw from the Marysville-Pilchuck High School campus. A Snohomish County Sheriffs detectives report said Swan was at fault, but his attorney said both the county and school district were negligent in managing the road and access to school grounds.
Swan has suffered several painful surgeries and racked up at least $400,000 in medical bills. According to Ann Deutscher, a lawyer with the Renton firm of Weiner & Lambka, Swan faces the risk of lifelong diseases due to the many skin grafts needed to fix the degloving injuries he suffered when both axles of the bus passed over him.
We want justice for the family, Deutscher said. Primarily what we want from them is to make that street safe, which we believe they havent done.
At the time of the collision the street was marked 35 miles per hour and there was no school zone or a marked crosswalk. Now the limit is 20 miles per hour when students are present, there is a marked school zone and the county is putting marked crosswalks near all schools fronting on county roads. Deutscher said the school has an entrance in the middle of the street and that there should be a marked crosswalk there.
Deutscher said the detectives report did not match his conclusions, and wondered why the bus drivers toxicology results were redacted from the report.
Ive never had a police report where the toxicology was negative and the report was blacked out, Deutscher said. I would say that its an issue that needs to be addressed.
She refuted claims that the bus collision was the second time in three months that Swan, then 16 years old, was hit by a car. Swans mother Kaori Tutewohl said her son was hit on State Avenue while riding his bike about three months before the Oct. 27, 2006 incident. Tutewohl said Swan was not injured in that accident, did not seek medical attention and the police werent called.
I dont believe thats accurate, Deutscher said. I believe that would not be admissible and would be reversible if admitted.
She also said the bus drivers record wouldnt be brought into the case as well, unless there was a pattern, trend or history of accidents on her record.
We have a bus driver who in the face of hitting him said she didnt see him. The whole story doesnt make sense, Deutscher said. He was there to be seen if she had been paying attention.
She defended the size of the claim, split between agencies, by noting that Swan will never be able to perform manual labor jobs or go into the military as he had hoped. Swan has since returned to the swimming team.
County attorney Tad Seder said it is early in the claim process and cited a Nov. 15 mediation hearing scheduled to discuss the matter.
He swatted Deutschers claim that the county has a conflict of interest by letting a county deputy investigate an accident that the county has a financial stake in.
Thats an interesting argument. I have not heard that, Seder said, asking if there is a fender-bender on I-5 should the county have to call the Tacoma Police Department to investigate. He said the sheriff did a thorough job on the police report.
The conclusions of that speak for themselves, Seder said.
As to the size of the claim, I have not seen a $50 million claim, or a $25 million claim for a non-fatality motor vehicle accident. Its certainly a large number.
Marysville superintendent Larry Nyland said the district got the claim in July and is still collecting documents in preparation for the November mediation. He refuted Deutschers claim that the driver was allowed to drive the very next day after the accident.
She was off for a while, Nyland said, adding that the woman is still employed, still driving and was given no discipline. She was also not cited by the sheriff.