According to the TCPALM of Florida, a former paramedic who left a Florida accident scene with a grisly souvenir is facing a personal injury lawsuit. Cynthia “Cindy” Economou was a paramedic on the scene on an I-95 vehicle crash that seriously injured Karl Lambert. Lambert was taken to a nearby hospital, and Economou found herself taking the victim’s dismembered foot and a part of his leg from the accident scene.
Lambert filed a lawsuit against the former paramedic, after she admitted that she took the foot belonging to the victim, but only for purposes to train her body recovery dog. Economou’s plead no contest to a charge of second-degree petty theft and was sentenced to six months probation. The fire district fired Economou after being informed of her actions.
According to the paramedic, she meant no malice by her actions. She claims she found the body parts an hour after Lambert was taken to a nearby hospital, and that the body parts were an unrecognizable mass of flesh.
Lambert filed an injury lawsuit claiming the leg could have been reattached had the paramedic turned it in to the hospital in a timely manner. The victim claims that the paramedic outrageously decided to remove the leg from the scene rather than delivering it to the hospital where it could have been reattached.
The St Lucia County Fire District is named in the lawsuit along with the paramedic, on the theory that it was vicariously liable for the former employee’s actions. Lambert is suing for unspecified damages.