In October 2006, Harry Heckler and his wife Harriett Heckler… In October 2006, Harry Heckler and his wife Harriett Heckler attended a mino
In October 2006, Harry Heckler and his wife Harriett Heckler… In October 2006, Harry Heckler and his wife Harriett Heckler attended a minor league baseball gqme between the Raleigh River Rats and the Jacksonville Windjammers at the River Rat Stadium in North Carolina. It was a perfect day with mild temperatures and clear skies. Harry and Harriett are big fans of the River Rats and attend every home game. They have season t ickets along the third base line on the first row so they can be near the players and heckle the opposing players near their dugout. On the day in question, Harry and Harriett were having a great time drinking beer, ‘eiting peanuts, and heckling t he players. The stadium I had a policy ofonly serving pne beer at a time to customers (and ending all sales after the seventh inning), blft Harry wasa regular and was well known by the beer vendors. Harry also had bef.f.iended one ofthe servers, Sally Slosh, who regularly would slip him an extra beer or two. Harry would assure her that he was not drunk and that the other beers were for his wife and friends. In reality, he might bring one beer back to his wife but he would drink the rest. He would later testify that he could not remember exactly how many beers he had on this particular day, but it may have been more than five. He also said that he could “hold his beer” quite well. During the seventh inning stretch, after the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” Harry spotted one ofthe opposing pitchers from the Windjammers, Carlos Curveballer. Carlos was a strong family man whose one weakness was an occasional hot temper. This was exhibited in some brushback pitches (the players called it “chin music”) when he became angered on the mound. Harry and Harriett knew about his temper and decided they w9uld try to help their team by amping up the heckling. Harry yelled out, “Hey Carlos, your motherwears Army boots.” Harriett, notto be outdone, yelled, ‘Jnd she’s ugly too.” Carlos ran toward Harry and started shaking his fist at him while cursing in Spanish. Harry stood up and shook his fists back at him while cursing in English and making racial slurs. The conflict had escalated. Carlos then did something unexpected; he threw a ball toward Harry. Harry ducked and the ball hit Harriett in the face. Harriett fell to the ground, unconscious. The ball had hit her jaw, breaking her teeth and the bones on the right side ofher face. She was injured further when she fell to the ground, breaking her left arm and cracking three ribs. Stadium security personnel were summoned, and 911 was called. Emergency medical personnel took Harriett to the nearest hospital. Harry and Harriett sued the stadium, Carlos Curveballer, and the Windjammers baseball organization for Harriett’s injuries. Business Management Human Resource Management Share QuestionEmailCopy link
