Legal News for Ohio Aviation Accident Attorneys. The bodies of two fatally injured plane crash victims were sent to the wrong families after positive identification.
Two Ohio plane crash victims from Indiana were accidentally sent to the wrong families by the Montgomery County coroner’s office.
Cincinnati, OH—A mix up occurred involving the cremation and burial of two plane crash victims, in which the families of the deceased received the wrong bodies. An Ohio coroner stated Friday, March 26, 2010, that a pilot was buried in the place of a passenger, who was consequently cremated in the pilot’s place, according to information provided by MSNBC.
A single-engine 2007 Evektor-Aerotechnik SportStar Plus light aircraft reportedly crashed in Union County, Ohio on March 5, 2010, after failing to refuel at the Union County Airport, as initially planned. The aviation accident sadly killed two Indiana men, identified as 67-year-old pilot Arthur Potter and 55-year-old passenger Frank Granato, Jr. The victims’ bodies were subsequently sent to the Montgomery County coroner’s office in body bags, which were falsely labeled at the scene. Once formally identified, however, the county coroner seemingly failed to notice that initial labeling on the body bags contradicted with the bodies’ updated dental record-based identification.
Granato’s body was then sent to Potter’s family to be cremated in Greenwood, Indiana, while Potter was sent to Granato’s family to be buried in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The Montgomery County coroner’s office was notified of the debacle when one of the victim’s families reported obtaining the wrong personal effects. According to Union County coroner Dr. David Applegate, who initially responded to the scene of the fatal plane crash, “We though because of the wallets and clothing that we could make a reasonable preliminary identification and labeled the bags to be helpful… From now on we will not do any preliminary identification, even on the bags, when there are multiple victims and there is any doubt.”
Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for Ohio Aviation Accident Lawyers.
