Video Shows Injured Hiker, 74, Being Spun Like a Top During Helicopter Rescue Gone Wrong
In June, a 74-year-old woman who was injured while hiking Piestewa Peak in Arizona went viral after she started spinning while being airlifted.
Then on Tuesday, she filed a notice of claim against the city of Phoenix.
Katalin Metro reportedly tripped while hiking the trail on June 4, became disoriented and needed help getting back down, according to KSAZ.
The outlet initially reported that Metro was strapped into a rescue basket called a “stokes basket” and lifted off the ground by a helicopter. The basket began to spin increasingly faster until it almost started to look like it could have been one of the helicopter blades.
The basket spun incredibly fast for about a minute.
Video footage of the rescue gone wrong garnered over 23 million views on the Fox 10 Phoenix Facebook page.
“I kept watching and hoping, just hoping that something would stop it,” Metro’s husband, George, told the Phoenix-based radio station KTAR-FM.
First reponders held a news conference after the incident to explain how such a thing could have happened.
“As the basket comes up and hears the helicopter, the basket will start to interact with the rotor wash of the helicopter. That is when it tends to spin. It wants to windmill,” Paul Apolinar, a chief pilot at the Phoenix Police Department, said.
“She suffered no ill effect from that spin other than being a little bit dizzy,” Phoenix Fire Department Captain Bobby Dubnow said.
However, the claim filed Tuesday argues that Metro told first responders she did not want to be airlifted from the trail at all. It also claims Metro “suffered physical, emotional and psychological injuries and damage as a result of the incident,” according to KSAZ.
The notice says Metro was lifted to John C. Lincoln Medical Center, where a doctor reportedly said Metro’s injuries included swelling and bruising to both eyes, “blood in her external auditory canals, and soft tissue swelling over parts of the skull,” the outlet reported.
Metro underwent surgery for an injury to her spinal cord as well.
She began outpatient therapy in July, according to the claim, and says she racked up $290,000 in medical bills in June and July.
“Katalin Metro’s injuries were caused or contributed to by the negligence, negligence per se, gross negligence, carelessness and/or other fault on the part of the City of Phoenix,” the claim reads.
The city would not comment on pending litigation to KSAZ, though the outlet suggested Metro is reportedly willing to settle for $2 million.
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