Mo. Officials reject an agreement of almost $ 1 million in a fatal fire engine.

By Mike Hendricks
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City, Mo – Kansas City pays the fire engine who killed three people in one 2021 traffic accident in Westport.

The city council's financial committee refused Proposed agreement of over 915,000 US dollars Tuesday to the firefighter Dominic Biscari after an emotional request from the owner of the restaurant, in which two of the victims worked.

Laura Norris called the proposed payment “incredible” and said that the settlement of Biscari's legal contestation of disciplinary measures against him “flies the innocent victims to justice.”

The members of the committee retired to the closed session after Norris asked her to reject the agreement, and when you returned to the open session mayor Quinton Lucas, the committee said exactly that.

“At this point, this committee does not find it appropriate to solve the legal disputes,” said Lucas. “Instead, we will keep the subject of Docket, which in the council is largely meant that the regulation will be rejected, and we will then continue to hope for the best for all parties involved, but will reject this object today.”

If the committee had asked the proposed agreement, it would have been up to the full advice to decide whether the payment would have been approved, which would have solved two upcoming lawsuits. Both were associated with the decision of the fire brigade to expose Dominic Biscari without payment and then released it.

Later in the day, the mayor's office published the following written statement:

“Mayor Lucas and the committee rejected the proposed agreement. Neither the committee nor the Council have existing plans to visit the point again. The mayor supports all city employees, but also supports the accountability for the damage they commit. The proposed legislation did not do so.

Employment status

Biscari has remained in the work curves of the department during the legal dispute. Immediately after the wreck, he was assigned to the fire brigade in the fire brigade. Siix months later, the city and the union agreed to return him as a firefighter for a full duty, since no charges had been raised until then, but it was forbidden to drive a fire engine.

But he was not assigned or paid for since he guilty of up to three cases of the involuntary homicide in February 2023. In return for his plea, Biscari avoided a court proceedings in which he had the opportunity to be convicted of the indictment and to be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.

Instead, a judge sentenced him to three years of probation and 40 hours of community service.

Local 42 of the International Association of Firefighters filed a complaint to block the termination of Biscari shortly after the culprit plea.

After a hearing in early 2024, a referee decided in favor of Biscari this March. He said Biscari no longer deserved it more than a three -day unpaid suspension, since his punishment was caused for the fatal crash, and the referee ordered the city to pay biscari back wages and services. He also asked the city to pay the legal costs that were located locally 42 in the pursuit of the complaint, and instructed the city to wipe the personnel records of Biscari cleanly on the fatal wreck.

Shortly afterwards, the city made this decision. Instead of restricting his decision as to whether Biscari's suspension was justified, the city claimed that the referee had exceeded his authority. He decided how Biscari's punishment would be if that was out of the question in the complaint.

“He did this without explaining how he got a three -day suspension,” said the city in her complaint. “But it was a day for every death and a day for every million dollars that cost firefighting accident.”

Since then, the city's appeal against the judge's judgment has been the subject of court measures and is one of the cases that would have been enclosed by approval of the 915,000 dollar. Another upcoming case revolves around a claim for injuries submitted by Biscari as a result of the crash. These injuries were not specified.

Both cases are continued until they are assessed or an agreement. Local 42 President Dan Heizman did not immediately answer a request for a comment.

What happened that night

Biscari was 21 years old at the time of the crash. According to load documents, he drove Pumper 19 on Broadway Boulevard at full throttle when he approached his flashing lights and sirens. At the time of the crash, the truck was on a street where the speed limit is 35 km / h, 51 miles per hour, measured by the vehicle data writer of the fire engine.

The surveillance video showed that the traffic light was red for 16 seconds when the fire engine entered the intersection, the probable explanation of the cause. Biscari told the police that he had seen a car in front of him and slammed on the brakes, but could not stop in time.

A judge in a civil proceedings submitted by the families of the victims found that Biscari lied When he said he tried to stop and when he told the police, he only drove 30 miles per hour.

His crew was on the way to a house fire at the time of the Wraw, but according to the Captain Captain, the captain received moments before the crash that their help was no longer needed and was put back into service according to this document.

The 20-ton firefighter car hit a Honda CR-V, which was driven by Jennifer San Nicholas, which had the green light. At Impact, the Honda with San Nicholas and her passenger Michael Elwood was housed under the front bumper of the fire engine.

“Pumper 19 then turned left, hit three parked vehicles, crushed a pedestrian and slammed into the collapse of the building on the 4050 Broadway,” the document says.

The second floor of the building collapsed on this pedestrian, Tami Knight, who had just eaten with her boyfriend in a restaurant and was about to get into his car as the crash emerged. San Nicolas, Elwood and Knight everyone died at the scene. The 41 -year -old San Nicolas and the 25 -year -old Elwood worked in the Ragazza restaurant that Norris has. Knight was a data analyst at Kansas City Public Schools. Everyone came from Kansas City.

Looking for justice

Biscari took responsibility for his actions on the night of the crash. But for his defense, Biscar's legal team blamed the city for not installing a technology that prompted the traffic lights to change and give the emergency vehicles the green light when approaching.

In her prepared comments that she held on behalf of the Finance Committee on Tuesday on behalf of himself and the families of the victims, Norris said that the settlement payment would be better to prevent similar wrecks.

“Justice is what we have been working on in recent years,” she said.

She said the victims' families had bought a unit for the city that they could install at the location of the wreck. The fire engine had a shipping unit on it, but the traffic light had no recipient.

“With the money that was spent on these settlements and lawyers, we could have installed Opticom technology at 100 intersections,” she said. “Make something good out of this terrible crash. It is right for the families of the victims. It's right for our community.”

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