PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland-area transit agency TriMet has agreed to pay an elderly man $75,000 after he was beaten with a baseball bat on a suburban Gresham MAX light rail platform.
The Nov. 3, 2007, attack on Laurie Chilcote prompted TriMet to make a big safety push. But Chilcote, now 73, says that in his case, “it’s too little, too late.”
His teenage attacker, Abel Chavez-Garcia, received a 912-year prison sentence. Chilcote says it feels like he got a life sentence. He says the head blows he suffered caused him to lose his balance a few months later and break his hip. He now uses a walker to get around.
In a lawsuit, he sought $441,000 for medical expenses and pain and suffering. Instead, he’ll receive an estimated $41,000 from the settlement. The rest will go toward expenses.
