Big Tax Bill For Saving Big Guy

Sat., May 11, 1996

Associated Press

A 617-pound Alaska man with a broken leg was flown here for treatment by the Coast Guard at a cost of $27,000, compliments of U.S. taxpayers.

Sean Crites was rolled onto a C-130 transport plane Wednesday afternoon in a wheelchair. He spent the three-hour flight on a mattress bolted to the floor.

“This was a special operation,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeff Krump in Juneau. “It was a humanitarian mission, and that’s what the Coast Guard does.”

Crites’ size precluded his taking a commercial flight, Krump said.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately return a call seeking further information on available provisions for a large, wheelchair-bound person.

Crites underwent surgery Thursday at Harborview Medical Center on his twice-broken leg.

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