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Woman ditches wheelchair, flees police

Thursday, May 11, 2006; Posted: 8:19 p.m. EDT (00:19 GMT)

 
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- A wheelchair-bound Los Angeles woman, who has repeatedly filed lawsuits over access for the disabled, got up and ran after police arrested her for fraud, authorities said Thursday.

Laura Lee Medley, 35, had sued in at least four California cities over injuries she claimed she sustained while trying to navigate her wheelchair before she was suspected of fraud.

Medley, who claimed to be paralyzed from a drunk driving accident, was tracked to Las Vegas where police there took her into custody and then, when she complained of medical issues, to a local hospital, Long Beach prosecutor Belinda Mayes said.

"She gets to the hospital and while she's waiting for an examination, she gets up from the chair and runs," Mayes said. "Somebody remarked, 'That's where the great miracle occurred.' "

Medley sprinted through the hospital corridors but was quickly apprehended by police and booked pending extradition to San Bernardino, California, where she is facing charges of filing false documents, attempted grand theft and insurance fraud.

Medley has sued the cities of Long Beach and South Pasadena and counties of San Bernardino and Riverside over various injuries she claimed she sustained in her wheelchair. She was also being sought on arrest warrants by the states of Oregon and Washington, Mayes said.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

i wonder how much money she had made off that scam

That is too funny.

I do think the pursuing police officers should have popped a couple of rounds into her legs to bring her down once she started running...then she'd have actually needed the wheelchair.

Hope they pop her for interest, penalties, and anything else they can think of when they recover her judgment awards.  What a lowlife.

Would that be irony?

Can one of the lawyers on the board give insight to this.  If the lawsuit was just to force buidings to become wheelchair accessible, does it matter if she was in the chair by choice?  Obviously this only holds if she did not profit from the claim.  But if the law indicates that all buildings need to have wheelchair access and she files a suit to add access to a buiding, is that a problem legally?

^^^

You may have a point, but I still think its wrong. If this was the case, she's still a loser.

I don't think so; she wouldn't have an interest in the proceedings.  Can't remember the term, but the party would have no interest in bringing this before the court.  The term isn't jurisdiction, but something similar, if I remember correctly.

I don't want to make you think I believe this is what she was doing.  I think she was trying to profit from the situation.  I'm more asking about a hypothetical situation than the story above.

Irony or justice.  It's a fine line sometimes.

The term you're looking for is "standing."  For example, the ACLU can't sue a school district because prayer is allowed in class.  It has to find a parent who wants to sue and back that guy up.

Find, bribe, coerce.... another fine line.

You have to cram your politics in at every turn, don't you, RTW?

I believe the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) provides a standing clause that allows anyone to sue, regardless of whether they have an actual disability.  Most federal acts provide standing clauses.  But, as was said before, this person was probably only doing it for insurance fraud.

I saw a pic of this lady.  She is HOT!!!  I'd love to tap that ass.  I'd make her cum so many times, she'll need a wheelchair for real. 

[Dr. Evil]Riiiiiight..........[/Dr. Evil]