This is a really tragic story.
Steven Domalewski was playing little league baseball in 2006, when a line drive hit him in the chest, stopping his heart for 15 to 20 minutes. During this time, Steven suffered brain damage from a lack of oxygen to the brain.
A terrible accident. But the family of young Steven sees it differently, and have sued the maker of the bat that hit the ball, Little League Baseball and the Sports Authority, the store that sold the bat.
It claims the defendants knew, or should have known, that the bat was dangerous for children to use, according to the family’s attorney, Ernest Fronzuto.
“People who have children in youth sports are excited about the lawsuit from a public policy standpoint because they hope it can make the sport safer,” Fronzuto said after filing the suit Monday morning. “There are also those who are skeptical of the lawsuit and don’t see the connection between Steven’s injury and the aluminum bat.”
I am not going to make light of the family’s loss. Steven is not at all the same child he was before he took the field that day. But if we are going to lay blame for this incident, then who drove the 12 year old to the game? Who taught the boy to pitch, or to catch? Who taught the boy the game at all? Who was in the stands cheering him on when the accident happened?
I would imagine his parents were involved in all of those at some point.
Instead of laying blame for what was nothing more than a tragic accident, perhaps he could invent and market a chest protector for little league baseball, or become an advocate for changing little league’s use of aluminum bats.
This wasn’t anybody’s fault. It was an accident. My heart truly goes out to the parents of Steven, but this lawsuit is wrong.
