Former San Diego mayor and radio talk show host Roger Hedgecock is suing the city over a shoddy sidewalk and ruptured breast implants which he says put his wife in the hospital.
Hedgecock's wife Cynthia was walking along Pacific Beach on Morrell Street near Grand Avenue in July of 2015 when she tripped and fell on a piece of pavement that was in a "state of disrepair." The impact from the fall ruptured her silicone breast implants, the suit claims, causing leakage into the bloodstream and necessitating surgery.
Don't you just hate it when that happens?
Both implants had to be removed and replaced in what the suit calls a "grueling procedure." And it never would have happened were it not for San Diego's negligence, Hedgecock claims.
The former mayor and his wife are seeking unspecified damages, and the case is expected to go to trial sometime this year. That's unusual because the city tends to settle such cases out of court. Just last month, in fact, the city agreed to pay $4.8 million to a cyclist who was seriously injured while biking across a patch of uneven pavement.
The Hedgecock case should not be confused with a similar but far more tragic incident that occurred in Glendale, California last year. Former City Manager James Starbird’s wife was also injured when her wheelchair careened off a broken sidewalk on the 1200 block of Ethel Street. She later died as a result of the injuries she sustained, according to Starbird. He has since filed a $1-million claim against the city.