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Sunday, June 26, 2022

E.J. Zimmerman Said He Was Permanently Injured by Falling Brick After Wall Demolished Following Fire, June 26, 1922

City and Maker of Fire Trucks Sued for Injury. . . Zimmerman Asks $10,000 for Lick From a Brick

Notice of suit and attachment has been filed in a damage action of E.J. Zimmerman against the American LaFrance Fire & Engine Company and the Board of Commissioners of Lexington, in which Mr. Zimmerman asks the sum of $10,000 for injuries alleged to have been sustained by being struck on the head by a brick from a falling wall.

The injury was sustained on April 19, when a portion of the wall of the Grimes building on East Center Street was being pulled down by city firemen and others. Part of the brick struck the hard surfaced street and careened across to the sidewalk along the Development Building, where a group of men were gathered.

Mr. Zimmerman was struck on top of the head with a brick and was rendered unconscious for a while. Following this he was confined to his home for a while and alleges in the notice of suit that he was permanently injured by reason of the blow. At the same time bricks struck E.A. Timberlake, Raymond Bowers and others, Mr. Timberlake sustaining painful injuries. He was an interested spectator of the wall pulling across the street.

When it appeared that the portion of the wall of the building that had been gutted by fire the night previous was a menace, it was decided to pull it down. One of the new fire trucks now owned by the city was hitched to a cable attached to a portion of the wall and was used to pull it down. Mr. Zimmerman’s counsel have not yet filed the formal complaint but it is understood that it will e contended the LaFrance company is responsible because it was still owner of the fire truck used, the purchase by the city not being closed until later. The city is made a party to the suit, it is understood, because employes of the city were engaged in pulling down the wall.

Mr. Zimmerman, who moved to Lexington early last fall, was a resident of Lexington at the time but has since moved back to his old home at Welcome. Attorney P.V. Critcher and Phillips & Bower represent Mr. Zimmerman. The interests of the city are being looked after by Attorney E.E. Raper.

Notice of another suit against the city has also been given by John E. Rickard, acting as next friend for Roy Rickard, a minor. Summons in this case is returnable by July 6. It is understood that Mr. Rickard will claim damages for his son by reason of personal injury, it being alleged that the little boy fell down the opening on the sidewalk near the Peoples Drug Store, where a cigar store was conducted at the time, and broke an arm.

From the front page of the Lexington Dispatch, June 26, 1922.

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