The City Council Tuesday voted 12-1 to approve paying $14,000 to an Agawam woman for injuries she said she suffered in a vehicle accident after a former fire chief had dispatched a truck to a fake emergency to teach a few firefighters a lesson.
Marilyn Garcia had filed a lawsuit against the city June 10, 2014 in Hampden County Superior Court in Springfield that named former provisional fire chief William P. Moran and the city as defendants.
Garcia had sought payment of $257,667 to cover pain and suffering that included torso burns, a left knee injury, injury to lumbar spine and pain, numbness and dysfunction in lower extremities, according to the suit.
Assistant City Solicitor Kara Cunha discussed the settlement with the City Council Tuesday at City Hall. The accident occurred on June 15, 2011 just before 12:30 p.m. on Homestead Avenue near Pynchon Road.
Moran, who retired in November 2011, said in a May 2013 interview that he regretted making the phone call that cost him the job he loved. But he said one bad decision shouldn't be all that defines him or negate the positives of his 28-year career in firefighting.