$US4M lawsuit dismissed

Press, 14 August 1984, Page 6

$US4M lawsuit dismissed

NZPA-AP Anniston A judge has dismissed a ?US4 million lawsuit against a television news crew that filmed a man setting himself on fire. Cecil Lypell Andrews, of Jacksonville, Alabama, had sued the Anniston Broadcasting Company and three employees, claiming the camera crew was negligent when it did not stop him from dousing himself with lighter fluid and igniting it. However, Judge Sam Monk dismissed the suit in a summary judgment, saying the facts in the case did not warrant a trial.

Mr Andrews was an unemployed roofer in March 1983 when he called WHMATV in Anniston, Alabama, and told the news department that he was going to set himself on fire in the Jacksonville Town Square to protest against unemployment.

The reporters told the Jacksonville police and then sent the .camera crew to Jacksonville, about 15km north of Anniston. When the crew arrived, Mr Andrews approached them, squirted

lighter fluid on his clothes and set himself on fire while the crew’s cameras rolled. Mr Andrews was in hospital for several weeks with second-degree and third-de-gree burns over 50 per cent of the body. After recovering, he sued the Anniston Broadcasting Company, which owned the station; news director Philip Cox; and the camera crew members Ronald Simmons and Gaiy Harris. Mr Andrews contended in his suit that Simmons and Harris were negligent because they placed him in a

position of peril without adequate safeguards.