Student Injured While Pretending To Be Injured During Safety Demonstration

[matcom]

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Mangled cars were placed in the school parking lot, while students laid on the ground, acting as injured occupants, as part of a safety demonstration put on last year by the Lemont Fire Department.

But Lemont High School student Rebecca George claims her "injured student" role became very real because of firefighters' negligence.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, Rebecca says one of the firefighters kicked and stepped on her while she was on the ground pretending to be injured.

Now, she and her mother, Therese George, want unspecified damages from the department for the pain and suffering Rebecca says she endured that day.

Rebecca said she was laying face-down, covered by a blanket, when a firefighter kicked and stepped on her, her suit says.

Firefighters also carried heavy equipment around her, causing her to fear for her life, the suit says.

And when it was over, firefighters surrounded her and the firefighter who kicked her, chanting in an "extreme and outrageous" way to "kick him back" until she finally did, according to her suit.

Those firefighters are now accused of intending "to inflict severe emotional distress" upon her, the suit says, adding that others "acted recklessly" by injuring her.

http://suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-lemont28.html