Greyhound crash on I-24 prompts $8 million verdict

Six passengers, including the attacker, were killed in the Oct. 3, 2001 crash on Interstate 24 between Nashville and Chattanooga. A seventh died later at a hospital and 34 others on board were injured.

Jurors, after listening to a week of testimony, deliberated about three hours before returning the compensatory damage verdict Wednesday for Sharon Surles, 59, of Saginaw, Mich.

“The main point for us is that Greyhound get the message. We think they will after this verdict,” said Surles’s attorney, Andrew Berke of Chattanooga.

Frederick Sager Jr., of Atlanta, an attorney for Dallas-based Greyhound, could not be reached by telephone for comment.

“Right now we are examining the verdict and will be making a decision on an appeal,” said Greyhound spokeswoman Anna Folmnsbee.

Berke said other crash-related lawsuits were pending in Georgia.

The bus was traveling from Chicago to Orlando, Fla., when Damir Igric, a 29-year-old Croatian, attacked driver Garfield Sands around 4 a.m. as the bus was passing through Manchester.

Sands was admitted to a hospital with two 5-inch-long, 2-inch-deep cuts on his neck.

The attack prompted Greyhound to briefly shut down all bus service. Croatian media reported that Igric suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Surles, who was traveling to visit relatives in Atlanta, stayed in a hospital longer than a month and is permanently disabled. Berke said her medical costs have totaled about $1.6 million.

“She will never walk again,” Berke said.

He said that in the four years before the crash, Greyhound had at least 43 incidents of a passenger attempting to assault a driver or grab the steering wheel of a moving bus.

“Despite the prevalence of attacks, Greyhound never did anything to protect its drivers,” Berke said.

He said a Greyhound executive in 1997 had asked the manufacturer if they could “put protective barriers” between drivers and passengers.

After the accident, Greyhound officials said they were expanding use of metal detectors to screen passengers.

Berke said the company has since received government funding for barriers between passengers and drivers.