by Lucy Hook
The father of a woman killed when a Jeep stunt went wrong at a public event told an inquiry into her death that the organisers should have been required to carry event insurance, which he says could have prevented the fatal accident.
John Green, whose 20-year-old daughter Melinda was killed during a demonstration of two off-road vehicles at an event called Jeeps Go Topless in 2013, said that the requirement of event insurance would have forced potential sponsors to consider the risk to the public in advance.
At the inquiry in Edmonton, Alberta, last week, Green told the judge that the provision of insurance could have saved his daughter’s life,
Canoe News reported.
“If event insurance was in place, this impromptu demonstration would not have taken place,” he said.
Green went on to say that a lack of insurance led to little or no risk assessment being carried out at the event.
“It’s our family’s opinion there was a deep lack of risk analysis,” he said. “There was no proper risk analysis done and no opportunity for risk analysis to be done.”
Melinda Green was crushed between two Jeeps when a ‘stacking’ manoeuvre – where one Jeep climbs up the front wheel of a second Jeep — went wrong and one of the vehicles was flipped on its side.
The inquiry heard the demonstration came about after a news cameraman expressed an interest in filming it if it were attempted.
One of the organisers, an employee at Bentall Kennedy, a property management company and co-organiser of the event, told the inquiry that the idea for the demonstration came together so fast that a safety discussion did not take place.
The driver of the vehicle which was flipped on its side said the motor revved out of control after he restarted the engine.
However, Edmonton police Constable Darren Sunley told the inquiry that there was “no mechanical reason or electronic reason for (the crash) to have occurred.”
Sunley said he thought the city should enact a bylaw restricting the movement of vehicles at such shows where the public has access.
He added: “If there is going to be movement there needs to be a physical barrier in place.”
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