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(we suggest
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NEWS
REPORT:
SKI
AREA DEATH AN ACCIDENT
By
Colin Poitras and
Cara Solomon
The Hartford Courant April 03, 2001
The
death of a 14-year-old Cromwell girl at the Powder Ridge Ski Area in
January has been ruled an accident. A three-month investigation by state
police found "clear and convincing evidence" that Lauren A.
Ramsay's death on January 5 was accidental and that no criminal
charges are warranted,
according to an inch-thick investigative report released Monday.
Lauren
died of asphyxiation when she and a friend tried to jump off a ski lift
about 100 feet before the drop-off point at the top of the mountain. Her
friend made it to the ground. But police said Lauren's helmet became
wedged between the safety bar and the seat bottom, leaving her dangling
from her chinstrap for several minutes.
While
the report says the lift was safe and operating properly, the
investigator notes there were some delays in the initial rescue attempt.
The report says some ski patrol personnel had trouble locating Lauren's
chair on the lift.
It
also shows that as many as five to eight minutes may have passed from
the time Lauren was first seen dangling from her chair and the lift was
stopped, to the time emergency personnel brought Lauren's chair to the
top of the mountain so she could be freed. Powder Ridge officials could
not be reached for comment Monday.
Lauren's
parents, Sharon and Frank Ramsay, contacted at home Monday, said they
were aware the report was completed, but had not seen it. "Based on
the information, it can only set us back," said Sharon Ramsay,
still struggling to cope with the loss of her daughter. "Maybe
someday we will read it, but not now."
The
report says that when the first emergency calls came in, some ski resort
employees and members of the ski patrol were unsure whether the incident
was happening at the bottom or the top of the ski lift. Resort Director
Chad Johnson later told police that lift accidents most often occur in
the loading areas at the bottom of the lifts, which is where some ski
patrol members initially responded, the report says.
A
19-year-old boy operating the lift at the top of the mountain said he
immediately stopped the lift and radioed for help once he saw Lauren
dangling from a chair about 30-feet from the discharge point.
The lift operator told police he then ran down the mountain and
tried to yell up to Lauren, who by then had stopped moving.
Some
of Lauren's friends riding the lift behind her said they initially
thought Lauren was kidding around but then they started screaming and
crying when they realized Lauren was dangling by her neck strap and
unable to free herself. The lift operator, realizing Lauren was
unconscious, told police he ran back to his station at the top of the
mountain and notified the ski patrol the situation was serious.
When
the lift stopped, Lauren's chair was still about 20 to 30 feet away from
the drop-off point and too high up to attempt a rescue from the ground,
witnesses said. The investigator ruled that the operator's stopping the
lift was necessary because Lauren was dangling too low to clear the
drop-off point safely and might have gotten pinned against the unloading
platform at the top of the mountain and further injured.
Eventually,
emergency crews decided to restart the lift just long enough to get
Lauren's chair above a safety net in front of the unloading platform
where rescuers were waiting. One resort worker quickly grabbed Lauren's
legs as her chair came toward him while another lifted the safety bar
and freed Lauren's helmet, the report said.
By
then, Lauren was not breathing and had no pulse, the report says.
Rescue workers said they performed cardiac compressions for
several minutes inside the netting, before transferring Lauren to the
lift platform for more advanced first aid. Lauren was later brought down
the mountain and transferred to a waiting ambulance. The incident
happened about 10 p.m. as Lauren and some of her friends from
Middletown's Mercy High School were going on one last run down the
mountain before ending their trip for the night.
Lauren was pronounced dead at the hospital about
6 a.m. the following day.
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