by Phil Helsel, Register Staff
Published October 18th, 2006
The driver was allegedly rocketing down a
desolate Jamaican road, dodging in and out of traffic and
playing chicken with other cars as he drove Jeff and Donna
Babineau and their three children to their resort in Ocho
Rios last year.
A subsequent head-on collision with a truck killed their
10-year-old daughter, Erin Marie, as well as the driver,
Sean Young. Right before the crash, Young allegedly told a
worried Jeff Babineau that "this is how we drive in
Jamaica."
The Babineaus, Stratford residents, filed a $100 million
lawsuit Monday against the company that owns the resort,
Sandals Resorts International, on grounds the company hired
a reckless driver to take them from Montego Bay Airport to
Beaches Boscobel Family Resort at about 3 a.m. Feb. 20,
2005.
Jeff and Donna Babineau hope the suit calls attention to the
dangerous reality of driving on Jamaica's roads, which their
attorney claims has so many reckless drivers as to make
driving there "inherently dangerous."
"I can remember everything in detail, I watched it happen,"
Donna Babineau said Tuesday. "The impact was tremendous; the
car spun backwards and hit another car. . The main reason we
wanted to file is to make Americans aware of how dangerous
it is."
The family tried to resolve the case before filing suit, but
Sandals "didn't show any serious interest in settling the
case," said the Babineaus' attorney, Alex Eisemann of
Westchester County, N.Y. The suit was filed at a Florida
state court in Fort Lauderdale Monday.
The U.S. State Department explicitly warns travelers
nighttime driving in Jamaica is especially hazardous and
should be "avoided whenever possible." A 1993 Jamaican
government-sponsored road safety report ranked the country
as having the third and fourth highest rates for motor
vehicle fatalities per number of cars and population size,
respectively, according to the Pan American Health
Organization.
Jeff Babineau said when he booked his family's vacation at
Beaches Boscobel he was told none of that. The company
promised the family an all-inclusive travel package with
"safe and worry free" transportation from airport to hotel,
he said.
"The brochures and everything sounded great and when you get
there, there are billboards on the road actually warning not
to drive aggressively," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
Sandals Resorts International, which owns 12 resorts in
Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua and the Bahamas, would not
comment on the lawsuit, but said in a statement that after
the accident it "provided ongoing support and join in
continued condolences at their loss."
Erin was sitting behind the driver when the head-on
collision occurred; the lawsuit says the crash caused
"jagged steel to tear through Erin's skull at nearly 70
miles an hour." The couple's two other children, Rachel and
Cory, were not seriously hurt in the crash, but had to
witness an accident which would later claim their sister's
life, Jeff Babineau said. Erin died of her injuries two days
later, after being flown to Miami Children's Hospital.
Eisemann said he believes the resort could be held liable
for the crash because it hired the driver, who may have been
driving without a license. Suing the resort on grounds it is
also responsible because it puts guests on dangerous
Jamaican roads is the first of its kind, he said, and adds
another layer to their argument.
The Babineaus said that, if successful, they will use
lawsuit proceeds to build an indoor recreational sports
complex in Stratford.
Erin's former elementary school, Chapel Street School,
recently dedicated its softball field to Erin, who was a
competitive gymnast and star pitcher for her Stratford
Police Athletics League team.
Erin was an organ donor and her mother said that helped save
two other lives. "We felt it as a tribute to Erin, we'd
hopefully be able to successful and able to build an indoor
sports facility for her," Jeff Babineau said. "Whatever we
can make out of it (the lawsuit), we'll make it the best."
