Houston City Council voted this week to pay $225,000 to the parents of a 29-year-old woman killed last March when two firefighter trucks collided at the intersection of Dunlavy and Westheimer in Houston on March 30, 2009. Leigh Boone was riding her bike to work at the Houston Center for Photography when she was crushed by one of the two ambulances that collided at the intersection.
The accident occurred when two large fire trucks, an 80,000 pound ladder truck and a 40,000 pound pumper truck, both with lights flashing and sirens blaring, collided an intersection. Nine firefighters were injured in the crash. Leigh Boone was taken to a hospital with catastrophic injuries after the ladder truck landed on her bicycle. She died Sunday, April 11, nearly two weeks after the accident.
The $225,000 settlement was $25,000 less than the maximum allowed in Texas. The attorney for the family said the settlement was agreed upon "primarily to send a message to the Houston Fire Department to review its policies and practices responding to emergencies." One other lawsuit is still pending as a result of the accident.
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