Women who crashed into hole during e-scooter accident file claims against Boise, ACHD
Two sisters were riding an e-scooter in downtown Boise last summer when they lost control and crashed through a barrier before falling into a 12-foot construction hole. Now, both women have filed claims against the city of Boise and the Ada County Highway District, alleging that they “failed to take appropriate actions” to protect people in the alley.
The sisters, Emalore and Alanna Brenneman, lost control “due to rough road” in the alley, attorney Matthew Bennett wrote in the tort claim against the city. A tort claim notifies an agency that the filer believes he or she has grounds to sue.
The alley is north of Idaho Street and connects Capitol Boulevard with 8th Street. People often walk through it or ride scooters, skateboards or bikes. The hole was there as construction went on in the basement of the Union Block building.
The hole had orange barriers around it, but an ACHD spokeswoman told the Statesman in August that “the devices were defective and unable to hold water.” Water gives the barriers weight and stability.
“Since there was no netting and the barrier was not staked down,” Alanna was hit in the face with the barrier and Emalore was unable to get out of the hole on her own. Both women were ultimately hospitalized, but the claims say that Emalore still experiences “significant pain” in her neck and back, while Alanna “continues to have pain and disfigurement, and she cannot feel her nose.”
In their tort claims, both women say they suffered damages in excess of $50,000.
The Statesman reported in July that firefighters reported seeing just one scooter at the scene. If the women were riding the same scooter, that would be a violation of Boise City Code. The tort claims do not explicitly say if the women were riding together or were on separate scooters. Bennett, their lawyer, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Boise officials did not immediately respond to request for comment. An ACHD spokeswoman confirmed that the district had received the claim but declined to comment, saying the agency does not comment on ongoing legal matters.
The Brennemans’ e-scooter accident wasn’t the only one to make headlines last year. Kyler Davis, a Boise 16-year-old, died in October after a crash between the scooter Davis was on with another 16-year-old boy and a pickup truck.
E-scooters have been in Boise since 2018. Officials recently have put more restrictions on where they can be used and have added penalties for reckless users who park scooters improperly or use them to vandalize property. In 2019, the first full year of scooters in the city, scooter riders traveled a total of 608,032 miles.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
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