Shoemaker Trial Starts

Tue., Feb. 25, 1997

Compiled From Wire Services

The paralyzing injuries that left former jockey Bill Shoemaker a quadriplegic were ignored by numerous doctors in the hours after a traffic crash, Shoemaker’s lawyer told jurors on Monday.

Shoemaker, 65, filed a $50 million Superior Court negligence suit against eight doctors and Glendora Community Hospital, claiming he wasn’t immediately treated for his neck injuries and doctors may have aggravated the damage by moving his neck in the course of other medical procedures.

Paramedics immobilized his neck and much of his upper body before taking him by ambulance to the hospital, but doctors there removed the restraints and failed initially to discover he had seven broken bones in his neck, attorney Neil Papiano said.

Shoemaker had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 percent at the time of the crash, and the California Highway Patrol believed he fell asleep at the wheel. The legal limit to drive in California is 0.08 percent.

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Shoemaker Trial Starts

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

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