By Betsy Scheinbart
An 81-year-old St. Albans man whose shoulder was permanently damaged after a forklift in the Home Depot in Springfield Gardens knocked him to the floor in August is suing the store for $15 million.
Wesley Parrott, a retired social worker, World War II veteran and widower who volunteered 20 hours a week at Queens senior centers before the accident, is now unable to drive or use his right shoulder.
“The doctors indicate that he is never going to have full motion in that arm again,” said his attorney, Cathy Middleton, who filed suit against the Home Depot in September. She said the case is still in the exploratory phase.
“The big issue with regard to many of these warehouse stores,” Middleton said, “is they are causing real danger to people with regard to highly stacked items.”
She was referring to the need for forklifts to move merchandise for consumers in huge warehouse settings that are used as retail outlets.
Attorneys from the law firm of Sobel and Kelly, who are representing Home Depot, did not return phone calls requesting comment by press time.
During an interview at his St. Albans home Monday, Parrott recalled the day he went to Home Depot on Springfield Boulevard to have a new set of keys made and left the store in an ambulance.
“It was Aug. 22, at about 12:30 or 1 p.m.,” Parrott recalled. “I went to the person who made keys and we were talking when I was knocked down by a forklift. I couldn’t get up.”
As he lay on the cement floor, Parrott said he felt severe pain in his right arm and shoulder.
“It was excruciating at that time,” he said of the pain, “and by the time I got to the emergency room, it was still hurting.”
After a day and a half in the ER and countless X-rays, Parrott was moved to his own room at Mary Immaculate Hospital, where he stayed for 2 1/2 weeks. Despite a dislocated shoulder and a broken humorous bone, doctors told Parrott that he did not need surgery.
He was transferred to the Trump Pavilion Hospital for rehabilitation and remained there for three weeks before tests showed he needed surgery right away.
His health care provider, HIP Health Plan of New York, also recommended the operation, which was done at North Shore University Hospital at Forest Hills.
HIP is also seeking retribution from Home Depot to compensate for the more than $75,000 in medical bills that Parrott has accumulated since he was injured, Middleton said.
Parrott wants to be compensated for his painful ordeal and the disability that has prevented him from continuing his community volunteer work.
“I want them to pay for my pain and suffering,” Parrott said.
The surgery involved piecing together the broken bones in Parrott’s shoulder with metal hinges, which will remain in his body for the rest of his life.
“Now I get rehabilitation twice a week at the HIP Hospital on Hillside Avenue,” Parrott said. “I can’t use my arm, I can’t drive a car, I can’t cook, I can’t lift anything.”
Before the accident, Parrott had been active in several southeast Queens community organizations, including the Jamaica branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Guy R. Brewer Democratic Club, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A graduate of South Carolina State University, Parrott got his master’s degree at New York University and a second bachelor’s degree from York College, where he studied the science of aging.
He spoke fondly about the volunteer work he did at Queens senior centers, including the Allen A.M.E. Senior Center in St. Albans, where he helped people apply for benefits like Social Security and welfare and provided company as a patient listener.
“They want to tell their story,” Parrott said of seniors. “I find the best therapy is to socialize and keep busy.”
Now that he is mainly confined his home, Parrott uses his computer to send e-mails and coordinate events for the York College Alumni Association. He has a health aid in his home five days a week to help him with daily chores and sometimes his son, daughter, or one of two granddaughters come to visit.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
