Suicidal Texas Man Hit By Car . . . After Being Chased By Man In Gorilla Suit
jonathanturley
Police in Texas are dealing with a bizarre tragedy where a suicidal man ran out in front of traffic and was hit by a car. At the time, he was being chased by a man in a gorilla suit. Paul Nimnicht, 32, had announced in the CoCo Bongo nightclub that he was going to commit suicide outside of the club around midnight. When he ran outside, he was chased by a waiter dressed as a gorilla. The chase took them to Highway 281 where Nimnicht was struck by a passing Infiniti.
The waiter said that he heard Nimnicht say he was going to commit suicide and wanted to stop him. Remarkably, Nimnicht who had been drinking survived and is recovering from his injuries.
An interesting twist is that Nimnicht left without paying his bill. If the waiter was chasing him over his bill, would it create any liability? Certainly not to Nimnicht. While I accept the waiter’s statement of his motivation, he would still be permitted to chase after Nimnicht even if he was limited in what he could do once he caught them. The driver, Nathan Girton, 31, could make a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress and vehicular damage against either Nimnicht or the club (via its employee). Again, it is hard to establish proximate causation against the club. Nimnicht however was obviously negligent in his conduct.
