He had seen the chimp around town and knew how big he was. No one talked, but Ackley couldn't help wondering as he worked if Travis would return. She was able to respond to requests to move her foot. It was very difficult to determine where everything was because of the blood." She did have injuries to her mouth that caused quite a bit of bleeding. "She just had disfiguring injuries," he said. Nash's eyes were injured, but Ackley would not say how extensively. Her head injuries "involved her entire face and scalp," Ackley said. "She had some crushing injuries to her hands and some tearing injuries to her hands." "I would liken it to a machine-type accident," Ackley said. Nash's hands were horribly disfigured, but still attached to her wrists. "One, two three." The medics rolled Nash onto a stretcher and strapped her in. Groves confirmed she was alive by checking her breathing. Police formed a perimeter around them with their guns drawn in case the chimp came back.īlood was everywhere. "What he did was essentially what they do in the jungle."Īckley, a captain with Stamford's emergency medical services, and medic Matt Groves were among the first to tend to Nash. "This was a beast taken out of his element and put into our world," Ackley said. Nor is it in the public interest to grant it," said Jepsen at the hearing.Nash's attacker, a 14-year-old, 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis, had already been shot by police but was still roaming nearby, temporarily out of sight. Nash's injuries, or whether in hindsight, DEEP could have done things differently or better, the law does not support this claim. Nash, 57, said in a statement she's looking forward to doing things she once took for granted, including being able to smell, eat normally, speak clearly and kiss loved ones (AP Photo) Nash was mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009 and received the transplant in May 2011 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Undated photos provided Thursday, Augby Brigham and Women’s Hospital show chimpanzee attack victim Charla Nash after the attack, left, and post-face transplant surgery, right. Her legal team has argued that she has the right for a court to decide whether to find the state negligent, despite Connecticut's sovereign immunity law, which makes it difficult to sue the state in such cases.īut state Attorney General George Jepsen said that allowing Nash to sue the state would "open the floodgates for unlimited lawsuits and liability that would bankrupt the state." He urged lawmakers to reject her request. What you will hear will be upsetting and appalling," Willinger said. "The facts you will shortly hear - and these are facts that will shock you - demonstrate the failure and omission of a state agency to properly and legally protect the public. Nash's lawyer, Charles Willinger of Bridgeport, insisted that his client has the right to have her day in court. The animal was shot dead at the scene by a Stamford police officer. Nash was at the Stamford home of her friend and employer, Sandra Herold, when Herold's pet chimp, Travis, attacked her, leaving her blind and disfigured. She lives in a Boston-area convalescent facility where she is highly dependent on staff. But I also want to make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone else ever again," said Nash, who wore a white hat with ear flaps over the gauze protecting her still-healing head. "I want the chance to pay my medical bills and live a comfortable life. that denied her request to waive Connecticut's sovereign immunity from lawsuits. She asked lawmakers to pass legislation overruling a June decision by state Claims Commissioner J. Her legal team has said that before the attack, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environment Protection (DEEP) had described the illegally owned, 200-pound (90 kilogram) chimp as a serious threat to public safety. "My name is Charla Nash and I'm hoping you can make a decision based on the fact that the state knew what was happening and failed to protect me," said Nash, 60. A woman whose face and hands were ripped off by a friend's pet chimpanzee in 2009 came to the Connecticut State Capitol on Friday to ask permission to sue the state for $150 million in damages.Ĭharla Nash, who has undergone a face transplant and many other surgeries, including a failed double-hand transplant, spoke to the Connecticut General Assembly's Judiciary Committee, her head wrapped with protective white gauze.
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