Jeff Smith, 48, is suing the US government for negligence for parking a camouflaged, unlighted Black Hawk helicopter on a snowmobile trail, where his vehicle clipped the aircraft’s tail.
A Massachusetts lawyer and dad-of-two who nearly died when he crashed his snowmobile into a camouflaged Black Hawk helicopter is suing the federal government for $9.5 million.
Jeff Smith’s complaint accuses the government of negligence for leaving the 64-foot military chopper on a marked and active snowmobile route at dusk.
On the evening of March 12, 2019, Smith was riding his snowmobile on a trail in Worthington, Massachusetts, when something dark appeared in front of him. He slammed on the brakes but could not avoid clipping the rear tail of the Black Hawk.
Smith was thrown from his snowmobile and his sled went hurtling through the air.
“I found him face down in the snow,” Benjamin Foster, one of the Black Hawk crew members, testified in court. “We rolled him on his back and I might remember yelling or telling one of my crew chiefs to grab some trauma shears and space blankets from the aircraft. … I remember him gasping for breath.”
Smith was airlifted to a trauma center with a dozen broken ribs, a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding.
“It was a mess,” he said.
The 48-year-old married dad-of-two was discharged from the hospital after a month, but he lost the use of his right arm and has not been able to work full-time because of lingering breathing issues.
Nearly five years later, Smith said he continues to struggle with everyday tasks, including putting on socks or pulling up his pants. He also can no longer golf or snowmobile. He receives federal disability assistance and lives with his parents.
“The last five years, there’s been surgery, recovery, surgery, recovery,” said Smith.
