Helping My Family Pick Up the Pieces
Donation protected
My name is Dustin Hoffman, and I'm asking for financial help for my family after what can only be described as some of the most cinematic bad luck I've ever seen.
My mother, Tammy Smith, was staying with her mother (my grandmother) Janet Lubish at her house on Route 21 in McClellandtown. She was resting after a recent hospitalization and, taking the advice of her doctors, temporarily moved into my grandmother's house on Friday night from her former residence in Ohio.
Just over 48 hours later, she's outside about to wash her car on a Sunday morning when Justin Shea, an inmate on his way to a Fayette County prison, escapes from a transport vehicle and proceeds to wreak havoc on my grandmother's property.
Still in shackles, Shea runs past my mother and into the garage. He finds my grandmother's keys inside her 2003 BMW which sits in her garage (she had recently given her Jeep to my uncle in exchange for the vehicle) and repeatedly rams the huge garage door until it crumples.
After discovering he was blocked by my mother's vehicle, Shea rammed it several times, causing damage to the front of the Chevrolet Cruze. He then scraped the car again as he eventually backed around it, drew several rounds of fire from the two female corrections officers who were little help to my mother during the ordeal, and took out a few more things in the yard before eventually finding his way to the highway.
Shea eventually led police on a long chase reaching speeds of up to 120 miles per hour and ultimately my grandmother's car into a tree in the town of Republic some miles away.
After being interviewed by several reporters from various news outlets, my mother spoke with police and found that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania holds no financial responsibility in the matter and that she and my grandmother are left to rely on insurance coverage to repair the damage.
To make matters worse, my grandmother apparently (without our knowledge) dropped her homeowners insurance recently after filing for bankruptcy late last year. Her home will be sold soon and she plans to move to a senior living home in Waynesburg - a stark contrast from her days as a successful restaurant owner in Masontown for so many years.
So, all things considered, my family is on the hook for:
$500 - deductible for the damage to my mother's car
$2000 - new garage door and installation costs
$2500 - approximate cost of a replacement used car for my grandmother
Anything helps at this point.
A lawsuit against the prison or the county may be coming eventually, but for now, my grandmother is left with a wide-open garage and no vehicle thanks to a botched prisoner transfer and a whole lot of collateral damage.
Thank you for reading and I hope you'll consider contributing.
Sincerely,
Dustin, Tammy and Janet
My mother, Tammy Smith, was staying with her mother (my grandmother) Janet Lubish at her house on Route 21 in McClellandtown. She was resting after a recent hospitalization and, taking the advice of her doctors, temporarily moved into my grandmother's house on Friday night from her former residence in Ohio.
Just over 48 hours later, she's outside about to wash her car on a Sunday morning when Justin Shea, an inmate on his way to a Fayette County prison, escapes from a transport vehicle and proceeds to wreak havoc on my grandmother's property.
Still in shackles, Shea runs past my mother and into the garage. He finds my grandmother's keys inside her 2003 BMW which sits in her garage (she had recently given her Jeep to my uncle in exchange for the vehicle) and repeatedly rams the huge garage door until it crumples.
After discovering he was blocked by my mother's vehicle, Shea rammed it several times, causing damage to the front of the Chevrolet Cruze. He then scraped the car again as he eventually backed around it, drew several rounds of fire from the two female corrections officers who were little help to my mother during the ordeal, and took out a few more things in the yard before eventually finding his way to the highway.
Shea eventually led police on a long chase reaching speeds of up to 120 miles per hour and ultimately my grandmother's car into a tree in the town of Republic some miles away.
After being interviewed by several reporters from various news outlets, my mother spoke with police and found that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania holds no financial responsibility in the matter and that she and my grandmother are left to rely on insurance coverage to repair the damage.
To make matters worse, my grandmother apparently (without our knowledge) dropped her homeowners insurance recently after filing for bankruptcy late last year. Her home will be sold soon and she plans to move to a senior living home in Waynesburg - a stark contrast from her days as a successful restaurant owner in Masontown for so many years.
So, all things considered, my family is on the hook for:
$500 - deductible for the damage to my mother's car
$2000 - new garage door and installation costs
$2500 - approximate cost of a replacement used car for my grandmother
Anything helps at this point.
A lawsuit against the prison or the county may be coming eventually, but for now, my grandmother is left with a wide-open garage and no vehicle thanks to a botched prisoner transfer and a whole lot of collateral damage.
Thank you for reading and I hope you'll consider contributing.
Sincerely,
Dustin, Tammy and Janet
Organizer
Dustin Hoffman
Organizer
German Township, PA