BOSTON -- A lawsuit has been filed by the family of a man who suffered severe head and spinal injuries when a flying storm grate smashed through the windshield of his car on Route 128.
The lawyer for Pawel Swierczynski (sweer-IN'-skee) claims that the 250-pound grate was of a type not designed for use on highways because it can be dislodged by high-speed traffic. The lawsuit cites two other accidents involving dislodged grates in the same week in July that Swierczynski was injured.
The suit currently names five contractors and manufacturers. Attorney Robert Norton tells The Boston Globe he intends to the add the Massachusetts Highway Department to the list of defendants.
A spokesman for the department could not say if any of the waffle-style grates are still in use on Route 128.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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