Well, this is a defense you don’t see every day:
[A] young woman can’t be held responsible in a fatal crash because she faced a roadway emergency after a back-seat passenger unfastened her bikini top, exposing her assets.
That was the ruling handed down last week by a Brooklyn appeals court, providing the latest twist in the bizarre and tragic case that unfolded after Manhattanite Brittany Lahm, 24, crashed on the Thruway in July 2008.
She took her hands off the wheel to cover up, causing the car to veer off course, hit a guardrail and flip. Berman died, and several others were injured in the Rockland County accident.
Even though Berman had acted disruptive throughout the fateful ride from the Jersey Shore, the Appellate Division concluded “that Brittany did not anticipate that he would suddenly pull the strings on her bikini top, thereby causing the top to fall and her breasts to be exposed.”
Therefore, the appellate judges held in a 3-1 decision that it was reasonable for the Rockland County jury that initially heard the case to conclude that Lahm’s bikini top problem constituted “a sudden and unforeseen emergency not of her own making.”
(…)
The appellate decision upheld a Rockland County jury verdict that came after a civil trial brought by Jason Pelletier, one of four passengers in Lahm’s Lexus. All were 19 at the time. They had been headed back to the area around New City.
The odds that alcohol was involved seem pretty high.
