In the first civil verdict resulting from the predatory behavior of a paramedic, a Portland, Ore., jury has awarded $2.25 million to a woman who was molested in the back of an ambulance while being transported to a hospital.

Three other women had complained about the paramedic, Lannie Haszard (left), in the two years before he groped Royshekka Herring in December 2007. She sued his employer, American Medical Response, for keeping him on the job “when it knew or had reason to know that he was likely to sexually abuse ill or injured female patients.”

A Multnomah County Superior Court jury found liability, rejecting AMR's defense that Haszard provided convincing explanations to managers who investigated the earlier complaints. But jurors apparently decided Herring's injuries were not as severe as she claimed.

The award of compensatory damages fell short of the $5 million that the plaintiff was seeking. "This woman was touched inappropriately twice," defense counsel James Dumas told the jury. "And for that, [she] is asking for $5 million."

Herring testified the abuse was so traumatic that she now suffers from frequent panic attacks, is afraid to leave her home and has told her son not to call 911 if she ever has a similar health emergency. "I don't want to be in an ambulance ever,” she said.

Because the jury found Herring was a "vulnerable person" at the time she was molested, she is entitled to another $1 million. After a second phase of the trial, the jury declined to award any punitive damages.

Five other women have filed similar lawsuits alleging negligent retention and supervision of Haszard, who was sentenced in August 2008 to five years in prison for sexual battery. The award in Herring's case is still substantial enough to suggest AMR should settle the other cases rather than risk further trials.

A heart surgery patient's case is up next for trial Oct. 12.

According to Herring's complaint, one of her three children dialed 911 after she lost consciousness at her home because of a gastric disorder. En route with her to the hospital, Haszard “touched and probed Plaintiff beneath her clothing in the pubic area.”

"I remember looking over at him -- looking at his badge, so I could see his name," Herring testified. "I felt like I was paralyzed. I couldn't speak."

Herring attorney Gregory Kafoury contacted 108 of the nearly 600 women Haszard had transported in the three years before he molested Herring. Eighteen of them reported he had done something sexually inappropriate.

"This is a case about a predator who worked out of the back of an ambulance," Kafoury argued in court. "It's about the woman -- Royshekka Herring -- who stopped him and the corporation that didn't."

Dumas said Haszard, like many sexual predators, was an expert at covering up his crimes and AMR's managers could not be expected to see through his lies. "They're not professional investigators," he argued. "They're not the FBI. They're not the Portland Police Bureau."

Of the three women who complained to AMR, one said Haszard appeared sexually excited as he watched a hospital worker change her into a gown. Dumas said he could have been sweating and panting “because he was an old out-of-shape paramedic who just got done wheeling a patient to the hospital.”

A 73-year-old woman complained about Haszard fondling her breasts and inner thigh while she was being transported to the hospital for heart surgery in December 2006. An AMR manager accepted his explanation that the touching was not sexual but a necessary part of checking her vital signs.

"He should not have been in the back [of the ambulance] with any other women after the first complaint," Herring said.

AMR was sued for privacy violations in 2007 after a paramedic who was transporting a rape victim published details of the crime on his MySpace page. The case settled last year.

By Matthew Heller
9/11/09