DUNMORE, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania firefighter injured during a cliff rescue has lost a lawsuit that sought more than $1 million in damages.
Firefighter Michael Snyder, of the Dunmore Fire Department, filed the lawsuit against St. Gregory’s Academy and the Rev. Thomas Maximilian Longua.
The Rev. Longua supervised a hike on “Holiday Inn Mountain” in 2006 when a teenager fell off a cliff. As Firefighter Snyder helped to rescue the boy, he was struck in the head by a rock dislodged by a stretcher loaded with medical supplies and then fell about 15 feet before catching a tree and waiting for rescuers, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Snyder’s attorney, Howard Levinson, argued that the Rev. Longua did not supervise the hike properly, the article said. If he had, Levinson claimed, the boy would not have fallen, and Firefighter Snyder would not have been called to the rescue in the first place.
But the defense attorney, Gary Stewart, suggested that Firefighter Snyder broke “common sense safety rules” by standing under the stretcher as it was being lowered from above.
According to the article, Firefighter Snyder has more than $250,000 in medical bills and is about $390,000 more in debt due to the accident. Levinson also said the injury ended Firefighter Snyder’s firefighting career and caused a number of surgeries. He added that Firefighter Snyder continues to struggle with back pain.