April 1, 2016
On March 22, 2013 a large sign at the Birmingham Airport fell over onto the Bresette family, killing 10-year-old Luke Bresette and injuring several other family members. Various airport officials gave several statements on that day, and the TSA released those statements on March 30, 2016.
KCTV5 in Kansas City and ABC News in Columbus, Georgia reported on the release of the documents. One statement, given by TSA officer Joseph Riccardi, mentions that two of the Bresette boys were hanging on the sign prior to its collapse.
However, correspondents reached out to Tim Dollar to help evaluate the weight of this statement. Dollar informed them that witnesses who were closer to the accident, and who were watching the Bresette family during the moment of the accident, stated that no one was hanging on the sign directly before it fell.
When asked about the Bresette’s recovery from this tragedy Dollar said, “There’s no such thing as getting back to normal, nor will there ever be a normal for them, ever. What I can say is that as time goes on, you get better in coping with the loss. I think that has happened and they’ve been able to restart their lives.”
Dollar also mentioned to reporters that the most important thing in this case is that the sign should have been secured to the floor in order to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring. It is the responsibility of establishments to take precautionary measures to protect their patrons.CC