Woman Brutally Beaten on Premises of Her Apartment Complex
Thankfully, most of us will never be victims of assault, but it does happen all too frequently, and many times it is due to inadequate security at the facility where the crime occurs.
One such event took place in Boca Raton, Florida one August evening after the victim of this Florida premises liability case returned home from a dinner party at a friend’s home at approximately 1:30 a.m. The victim in this case was a 44 year old married woman who was at the time separated from her husband and living alone in an apartment complex.
This particular evening, after having only one drink at the dinner party, the victim accepted the offer of a friend to drive her home. The friend dropped her off at the entrance to her apartment complex, and she remembers walking into the complex by the guard gatehouse and waving at the guard. However, she does not recall whether he saw her and she definitely does not know whether he acknowledged her wave.
On her way to her apartment, she was accosted and brutally beaten by assailants and left for dead. The victim, thankfully, has no recall of the incident. According to the police, she was apparently beaten near the dumpster in the complex, as there was a lot of blood in that area and on the wall next to the dumpster. At this time, it is unclear whether the victim was struck by someone’s hands or a blunt object. The police believe she was either dragged from the dumpster toward her door or she crawled on her own because there was evidence on both of her elbows and knees of being dragged. The only thing taken from this victim was her purse, but no jewelry and unbelievably she had a $2,000.00 bracelet on her arm that was not taken.
She was eventually found by a neighbor who lives on the third floor of the complex (our victim lives on the first floor) at approximately 4:00 a.m. on the ground near her apartment door unconscious. The beating was so severe and disfiguring that the neighbors were unable to identify her but told the responding officers that they thought she was the female that resided in Apartment 14.
The victim was taken to Delray Medical Center as a trauma patient. She was admitted and treated for multiple facial lacerations, facial trauma, subcranial hemorrhage, abrasions to her feet, legs, back, arms, buttocks and obvious emotional injuries. Radiology reports revealed a fractured nasal bone, a potential fracture to her mandible and the previously mentioned subarachnoid brain hemorrhage. She was discharged after several days to be followed up by her physicians which included a neurologist, psychiatrist, maxillofacial surgeon, and dentist.
Our victim was sent for an MRI of the brain and the test results confirmed that she sustained a post-traumatic and non-hemorrhagic diffuse axonal injury (a shearing of her brain). She had to undergo laser photocoagulation of her right eye, and as she was recuperating at home from the terrible injuries sustained in this incident, she noticed that
she began to experience severe pain in her back radiating into her legs. An MRI scan revealed that she had an L5-S1 disc herniation which was causing these problems.
A neuropsychological examination indicated that she sustained a traumatic brain injury with complications. The physician’s diagnosis indicates that the victim meets the criteria for dementia due to head trauma and for post-traumatic stress disorder and that there are features of major depression.
The family of this victim sought the services of Attorney Richard D. Schuler in this matter. Mr. Schuler filed suit against the apartment complex for negligence in failing to meet its duty to provide adequate security to deter crimes of violence against residents in their community. In addition to failing to maintain adequate security, lighting and fencing on the property, Mr. Schuler felt that the complex failed to warn the residents and visitors of their lack of perimeter security and lack of security lighting, and failed to properly train, instruct and manage their security guards. Residents of the complex had confirmed that there had been a historical problem with the guard and the security gates at this particular complex. At times the security gates did not operate properly and the security guard would have to let people in manually. However, the security guard was known to be an alcoholic, and this presented other problems.
The police advised that they checked the video camera at the guard gate after this incident, but the camera was not working.
The victim in this incident not only suffered serious physical injuries from the incident, but has also suffered serious and debilitating cognitive and emotional injuries as well. She lives in fear which paralyzes her and will most likely keep her from ever living a normal life again. She is unable to socialize with any of her former friends and admits that she feels ashamed and embarrassed because of her inability to speak clearly and/or remember events from the past. This, of course, does not even take in to consideration her altered physical appearance since this severe beating.
Mr. Schuler was successful in settling this case for hundreds of thousands of dollars. At this time, the police still have not been able to ascertain who committed this horrendous crime, but the victim is continuing to recover and will now be able to obtain the medical care and treatment that she needs.
