Aussie artist Visaya Hoffie prepares to sue for negligence after freak New York train accident
The young Brisbane artist who lost both her legs after being hit by a train in New York is preparing to sue for negligence, alleging she was also hit by a second locomotive and will remain confined in hospital for the foreseeable future.
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A young Australian artist has launched legal action against after both her legs were amputated after a freak New York train accident.
New court documents lodged in the Manhattan Supreme Court show Visaya Hoffie, from Brisbane, has filed a petition against the Port Authority, the Metropolitan Transport Authority and the city as she prepares for a negligence lawsuit, the New York Post reports.
The 23-year-old tripped and fell onto train tracks at 14th Street station in Manhattan on January 11. After she was hit by a locomotive and all seven of its carriages, she had to have both of her legs amputated below the knee.
It was previously reported her bright pink top alerted the driver of a second oncoming train to her body lying on the tracks. However the court documents claim a second locomotive also hit her.
“After the first train left the station after running me over, I was left on the tracks for another considerable period of time … until a second P.A.T.H. (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) train came along and hit me again,” Hoffie wrote in an affidavit accompanying the petition, according to the New York Post.
She claims that a series of safety failures lead to the accident.
Hoffie claims the station was well lit, and that she fell far away from the tunnel entrance fir the driver to see her and stop in time.
Track sensors designed to detect objects also weren’t working, her court papers allege.
She alleged there was “clear evidence of negligence” by the Port Authority because there was no one monitoring or patrolling the station.
The court papers reportedly say Hoffie has “undergone several surgeries; [and] is expected to remain confined to the hospital for the foreseeable future.” She also suffered a spinal fracture and head injury, it’s claimed.
Hoffie layer, Jesse Minc, said: “We are going to vigorously pursue claims against anybody that we find bares any responsibility for this horrible tragedy.”
She is seeking video footage, accident scene photos, investigation reports, and witness statements among other record in order to build her case.
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Last week, Visaya’s mother Pat Hoffie, shared details of her daughter’s tragic accident in a Facebook post.
“When the first train had rolled across her unconscious body twenty minutes earlier, her black puffy jacket and black jeans had made her invisible to the driver,” she said.
“In the words of the investigating police, ‘it’s a miracle she survived’.”
Visaya also posted on Instagram, which read “wearing the top that saved my life. Terribly missing my sister”, comes days after being forced to warn the public about a scam donation page set up on Donorbox, falsely publicising itself as raising money for her treatment.
“Do not donate to this page. It is a scam,” Ms Hoffie wrote, sharing a screenshot of the impostor page.
Donorbox has since confirmed it has removed the fake fundraiser account.
“Regarding the fake fundraiser, the page was taken down within a matter of hours of being created and the account was banned,” a spokeswoman told the Daily Mail.
The page had already attracted $260 in donations before it was removed.
Donorbox confirmed it would contact those who had unwillingly given money to the fake account, saying it had “anti-fraud” measures.
“We are also working on ways to effectively block such scams from our platform entirely,” the spokeswoman said.
Ms Hoffie suffered critical injuries and had both lower legs amputated during the horrific indecent on January 11.
A New York Port Authority spokesman confirmed Visaya was struck about 4am at the 14th St station and suffered head and lower body injuries.
“It’s difficult at the moment,” her mother, Ms Hoffie, said from her daughter’s New York hospital bedside.
“But we are in the best possible medical home but we just have to put our heads together and work through it.
“We’re in the middle of a very trying time.”
Visaya suffered head and spinal wounds and other injuries and remains in a serious condition in ICU in a New York hospital.
But she overcame her most significant surgery on Wednesday – a corrective amputation of her left leg – and posted on her Instagram account, saying: saying: “Yes I’m Becoming a TV show”.
Visaya’s freak accident has shocked the Brisbane art community who have posted more than 300 hundred messages of support on her mother’s Facebook page.
“She is sedated but is optimistic and has already muttered, “I’m going to have to deal with this,” her mother, Ms Hoffie, said of her daughter on January 16 in a social media post.
“Her lower legs were amputated; she has multiple head wounds, a C2 vertebral fracture, a sheared vertebral artery, a skull depression and associated cuts and wounds.
“Miraculously, she shows no evidence of brain damage.”
Ms Hoffie last week also publicly shared details of a “further “corrective amputation” on Visaya’s left leg.
“It’s going to be a big one,” she wrote on January 20.
“She has a pseudo aneurism (sic) in the femoral artery leading into her brain and this is being monitored by the neck brace she will have to wear for many months to come, and aspirin to avoid blood clotting.
“The stitches in her face have come out but the row of staples in her skull will be in for some time.
“Days and nights are filled with visits from doctors and nurses on a half-hourly basis. There is not a second to spare.”
Visaya, who works at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, was visiting a friend from Brisbane who was studying in New York.
The young artist is a much-loved member of Brisbane’s contemporary art scene.
Her father, Santiago Bose, was the late Filipino artist, who exhibited across the world.
Her mother Pat is also known for her artwork and writing.
Visaya’s paintings were featured under the name Visaya Bose in the 2016 Queensland College of Art Fine Art graduates collection.
A spokeswoman for the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) refused to comment on Visaya, saying they respected the “privacy of its staff member and family at this extremely sensitive time”.
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Pat Hoffie’s gallery representative Michael Eather, director of Brisbane Fireworks Gallery, has known Visaya since she was born and said she had the determination to overcome her injuries.
“If there is anyone who can come through and reinvigorate their life through these complexities, it is Visaya and Pat,” he said.
“As much as their lives have taken a complete turn, there is a strength and resilience that will keep them in good stead.
“They also have the wide support of the art community in Brisbane who will be here for them when they return.”
Ms Hoffie said she did not wish to comment further and asked for privacy while her daughter heals.
“I need to go and attend to my daughter now,” she said.
The family is being supported by the Australian government.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian woman in the United States,” a DFAT statement said.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”
Originally published as Aussie artist Visaya Hoffie prepares to sue for negligence after freak New York train accident