Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor of English at UB, recently filed a negligence lawsuit against the Buffalo Sabres. Jackson alleges that he sustained an injury during the National Hockey League playoff game between the Sabres and the Ottawa Senators at HSBC Arena on May 19, 2007.
According to Jackson, during the third period of the game, Anton Volchenkov of the Senators, and Sabres player Jochen Hecht slammed into the Plexiglas in front of him. The glass fell inwards onto Jackson, his son, Michael Jackson, and the two men seated behind him in the second row.
"I got banged up pretty badly. Initially, I was in shock. I thought the only injury I had was on the top of my head," Jackson said.
The front row seats Jackson sat in that day were a birthday present from his children. Prior to the incident, he had not been to a game in more than 30 years.
Jackson will sue on a count of negligence, he said, after having to attend three months of physical therapy.
"That window should not have come out. It's like going to the aquarium, you expect the sharks to stay on the other side of the glass," Jackson said. "I'm still doing the exercises they gave me [at physical therapy]. I lost a lot of mobility in my neck and some other parts I was never aware of."
The game announcers praised him for keeping his seat, as seen on the video of the incident, which is on YouTube.com. According to Jackson, it wasn't a matter of choice, but rather icing the injury and remaining seated until he believed he could handle getting up.
"I just sat there. That's a lot of steps to get out. I wasn't sure if I could make it up all the steps. At the end of the period I asked my son to go home. As we left, people applauded me. They replayed it on the Jumbotron," Jackson said.
The pain and immobility of his neck did not start until a couple of days after the impact and he had bruises on his back, he said.
Jackson thinks the incident could have been significantly more serious if someone else had been sitting in his seat.
"There was a 10-year-old kid next to Michael. If he was in my seat, he would have been killed," Jackson said. "That glass is pretty heavy. When you see it flying towards you it's very big."
Rachel E. Jackson, Jackson's attorney and daughter, used the legal term res ipsa loquitur, meaning that something speaks for itself, to describe the case.
"In this situation, the disclaimer is meaningless because that disclaimer is not meant for a situation where there is clear negligence. There are certain types of negligence that cannot be disclaimed," she said.
Both have said that the Sabres have not contacted them yet.
Michael Gilbert, the director of public relations for the Sabres, did not return phone calls made on Friday.
"We have filed the summons and complaint and we are now waiting their answer," Rachel Jackson said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
