Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On their fourth lap, just as the Zoo Choo rounded a curve past the prairie dog pit, something suddenly went wrong.
With a metal-on-metal screech and passengers' screams, the train's end car tipped right, derailed, then fell on its side, pinning the 29-year-old Vinton man's right leg beneath it. The engine continued forward, dragging the fallen car into a dark tunnel.
Including Kawamura and his daughter, 13 children and three adults were injured in the July 15 wreck. All but Kawamura were treated for minor injuries at hospitals and released.
Kawamura's leg was slashed so badly that just to get it closed, surgeons had to stitch Band-Aid-like plastic clamps to his skin on each side of the 12-inch-long, snaking wound.
It later became infected with e-coli bacteria, probably from contact with animal feces, Kawamura says doctors told him.
After two hospital stays, three surgeries, a potentially serious infection, and ugly scarring, the part-time waiter is facing the loss of his income, medical bills he expects will top $20,000, and an untold number of physical therapy sessions.
Although he's not in great pain now, Kawamura has some trouble getting around. He has moved his family into his parents' Southwest Roanoke County home because of difficulty getting up and down the stairs of his leased duplex.
He cringes at the thought of what could have happened to his daughter had she been seated on the right side of the passenger car instead of him.
And Kameko can't stop talking about the train wreck, although the nightmares it caused her initially have eased somewhat. Not surprisingly, "she doesn't want to go to the zoo again," Kawamura says.
An insurance policy held by the train's owners, the Roanoke Valley Jaycees, has paid him $3,000 in temporary support to make up for lost income. It's possible the policy also will cover Kawamura's medical bills, although he has health insurance through his wife's job as a teacher's aide in the city.
He can't work, although doctors believe be may recover more quickly than the six to eight months off the job they initially estimated, he says. He still intends to continue his college education in a physical therapy program at the University of South Alabama in Mobile next spring.
The train is still sidelined. Greg Lyons, president of the Jaycees, said he understands city inspectors have found no mechanical or structural defects that could have caused the wreck. Lyons said he also understands police have found no criminal negligence on the part of the engine's operator.
The Jaycees hope to have a miniature-train consultant from Oklahoma come to Roanoke within the next three weeks to examine the Zoo Choo. It won't run again until the cause of the accident is determined, Lyons said previously.
Kawamura said he believes the train was simply going too fast for the turn it took.
"There are a number of possibilities why the accident occurred," Lyons said. "Excessive speed may be one of them. I simply don't have any idea how fast the train was traveling."
Lyons said as far as he knows, the engine had no governor to limit the train's speed before the accident.
Kawamura has retained lawyer Michael Feinmel to represent him, but no lawsuit has been filed.
Feinmel said he intends to put the city on notice that it may be partially liable because Kawamura's infection, a pre-gangrenous condition, could have been caused by animal droppings that weren't properly cleaned up.
"There is a little bit of a lesson they have to learn here," the lawyer said. "And we're intent on making sure this doesn't happen again."
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said the Jaycees' insurance policy also covers the city.
by CNB