The Associated Press
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A former state trooper left paralyzed from an earlier accident has been awarded $1.3 million from his involvement in a second crash nearly a decade later.
Edwin Stapans was left paralyzed form the chest down when he was hit by a car as he jogged near state police headquarters in Scituate in 1991.
Nine years later, Stapans was riding in a car that was hit by Kenneth Bouvier in South Kingstown. Bouvier, owner of South County Post & Beam, was turning left onto Woodruff Avenue from the former Coffee Bean restaurant when the crash occurred. Stapans reinjured his spine in the accident. His attorney told a Superior Court jury the accident permanently changed his client’s urological functions. The jury reached its award last Friday.
Bouvier’s attorney had argued that the former policeman’s injuries stemmed from the 1991 accident. He did not return phone messages left by The Providence Journal for comment.
Stapans, 46, works as an attorney for the Rhode Island Disability Law Center.