Opinion ID: 2621128
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The accident and its aftermath

Text: The underlying facts of this case are not in dispute. Stacey Lawrence, Jr. (Stacey Jr.) was involved in a car accident at an intersection in Anchorage. Tell Wohltmann, who is not a party to this action, ran a stop sign and crashed into the car that Stacey Jr. was driving. Wohltmann admitted that he was speeding as he drove through the intersection, and stated that he did not want to stop at the stop sign because he was suicidal. Stacey Jr. was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He suffered severe injuries as a result of the accident, including traumatic brain injury and a ruptured spleen and diaphragm. Neither of Stacey Jr.'s parents was present at the accident scene. Tobitha Lawrence, Stacey Jr.'s mother, was at a bookstore several blocks away; his father, Stacey Lawrence, Sr. (Stacey Sr.), was also elsewhere. While Tobitha did encounter the ambulance that carried her son after she left the bookstore, she did not know at the time that her son was in the ambulance. Soon after the accident, Tobitha received a phone call from a nurse who said that Stacey Jr. had been in an accident. Tobitha's sister then drove her to the hospital. Around the same time, Stacey Sr. was told by a friend that Stacey Jr. had been in accident; Stacey Sr. then drove to the hospital himself. When Tobitha arrived at the hospital, she was told that Stacey Jr. was very sick. She was not allowed to see him. After Stacey Sr. arrived at the hospital, he saw his son on a gurney. Tobitha and Stacey Sr. waited in the hospital waiting area while their son was in surgery. After the surgery, a surgeon came into the waiting area and told the Lawrence parents that Stacey Jr. was in a coma, and that he would probably not wake up from it. Tobitha fainted upon hearing this. As a result of her reaction to the events, Tobitha herself was admitted to the hospital. She was diagnosed as suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and headaches, and was prescribed sedatives. The record contains no indication that Stacey Sr. suffered any physical illness as a result of these events.