Chimp mauling victim Charla Nash makes last ditch video bid to sue Connecticut for $150million

  • Charla Nash lost her eyes, nose, mouth and hands when she was attacked by a friend's chimpanzee in Connecticut in 2009
  • She has since undergone a face transplant and been fitted with new teeth
  • Nash is trying to sue the state for not seizing the chimp when it was told the animal was dangerous
  • Months before the attack, a state biologist warned that the 200-pound chimp was 'an accident waiting to happen'
  • The state's claims commissioner previously denied the request to sue
  • But in a new seven-minute video, Nash urges lawmakers to overrule the commissioner's decision

By Daily Mail Reporter and Ap

PUBLISHED: 00:55 EST, 19 March 2014 | UPDATED: 14:27 EST, 21 March 2014

Charla Nash, the woman who underwent a face transplant after she was mauled by her friend's chimpanzee, has revealed in a newly-released video that she feels like she is locked in a cage.

She appeared in the footage in a last-ditch appeal to legislators to sue the state for $150 million, saying the attack that robbed her of her hands, her sight and much of her face has left her life forever changed.

'It’s a different world to not be able to see again or to use your hands and just do things for yourself. That you have to depend on other people for help now, it’s very hard,' Nash said.

'I feel like I’m locked up. I feel like I’m in a cage.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Prison: Charla Nash has appeared in a seven-minute video that will be shown to Connecticut lawmakers as she attempts to sue the state for a chimpanzee attack that left her needing a face transplant

Prison: Charla Nash has appeared in a seven-minute video that will be shown to Connecticut lawmakers as she attempts to sue the state for a chimpanzee attack that left her needing a face transplant

Difficult: Nash lost both of her hands in the attack, as well as her eyes and much of her face

Difficult: Nash lost both of her hands in the attack, as well as her eyes and much of her face

The nearly seven-minute video will be sent to members of the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. She says the state had the authority and obligation to seize the dangerous animal.

The state generally is immune to lawsuits, unless allowed by the claims commissioner.

 

More...

The legislative panel is scheduled to meet Friday to hear testimony on a bill that would override the June decision by State Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr., who dismissed Nash’s request for permission to sue the state government. Nash also may appear in person at Friday’s hearing.

'I’m hoping that the legislation will allow me to have my day in court, that I will be able to have a judge listen to the evidence that is brought before him about the vicious attack on me and that it shall not happen to any other person again,' Nash says on the video.  

Difficult: In her video, Nash demonstrates how basic tasks - like getting around - are hard because she is now blind from the attack

Difficult: In her video, Nash demonstrates how basic tasks - like getting around - are hard because she is now blind from the attack

Final plea: Nash is pleading with lawmakers to give her the chance to bring her case before a judge

Final plea: Nash is pleading with lawmakers to give her the chance to bring her case before a judge

In her room at a Massachusetts convalescent center, where she is awaiting a second attempt at a hand transplant, Nash describes the difficulties she has endured over the past five years.

The 60-year-old single mother was blinded, lost both hands and underwent a face transplant following the attack in Stamford.

Nash went to the home of the chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, on Feb. 16, 2009, to help her friend and employer lure the 200-pound animal, known as Travis, back inside.

But the chimpanzee went berserk and ripped off Nash’s nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by a police officer.

Nash reached a $4 million settlement in 2012 with the estate of Herold, who died in 2010. Nash’s attorneys say that will only cover a small portion of her medical costs.

Travis
Nash

Violent: Nash, pictured before the attack (right), was attacked by her friend's chimp Travis (left) in 2009

Injuries: She was left with a thumb on one hand and lost the other hand between her wrist and elbow

Injuries: She was left with a thumb on one hand and lost the other hand between her wrist and elbow

Denied: Connecticut Claims Commissioner Paul Vance denied Nash the permission to sue the state of Connecticut

Denied: Connecticut Claims Commissioner Paul Vance denied Nash the permission to sue the state of Connecticut

  

It is unusual for state lawmakers to overturn denials issued by the state claims commissioner, but Nash hopes her appeal will resonate.

'It’s a shame that this attack had to happen, unfortunately,' she said. 'But now I’m trying to work the best I can to have my sanity. I want to be as normal as I can be.'

In an appeal of Vance’s decision, Nash’s lawyers in July claimed the state law that was in place at the time of Nash’s attack prohibited the ownership of primates weighing more than 50 pounds without a permit.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had the 'unequivocal authority to seize an animal whose existence threatened public health and safety,' Nash’s attorneys wrote. Because the chimp was owned illegally by Herold the lawyers contend the state was obligated to seize it.

Life changing: An illustration, left, shows how Nash's face was damaged in the attack - she lost her eyes, nose and lips. But the transplant, right, gave her back these features

Life changing: An illustration, left, shows how Nash's face was damaged in the attack - she lost her eyes, nose and lips. But the transplant, right, gave her back these features

Intense: A team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, residents and other clinical staff are pictured at work during the 20 hour procedure at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston

Intense: A team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, residents and other clinical staff are pictured at work during the 20 hour procedure at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston

After the transplant: She underwent a face transplant in 2011, pictured, and was given glass eyes

After the transplant: She underwent a face transplant in 2011, pictured, and was given glass eyes

Months before the attack, a state biologist warned state officials in a memo that the chimpanzee could seriously hurt someone if it felt threatened, saying 'it is an accident waiting to happen.'

Vance concluded that no law at the time of the attack prevented Herold from owning the chimpanzee. He added: 'If there was a failure by the DEP (now referred to as DEEP) to seize the animal … the duty owed was to the general public and does not create a statutory obligation to ensure the safety of a private individual.'

State Attorney General George Jepsen has said state law on the issue was ambiguous and difficult to enforce.

In the video distributed to state legislators, Nash is seen attempting to navigate down a hallway of the nursing home, feeling her way along the wall.

'I really miss seeing a whole lot,' she said. 'I think there’d be so much more I could be doing handicapped if I could see what I was doing. I think I could figure out how I could use a foot or a toe to do something. Not being able to see makes it a lot harder.'

Comments (89)

Share what you think

 View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

I think the medical community should give her free health care because this is a golden opportunity for surgeons to hone their skills in such extensive reconstructive surgery. Cases like this don't just show up every day.

4
4
 Click to rate

I'd rather be dead than go through all that and live this way, seriously. Red arrows welcome but most I know agree with me.

5
14
 Click to rate

I wonder if her family are interested in her now?

7
5
 Click to rate

Tired of frivolous lawsuits to pay for peoples own mistakes. Just say no.

10
25
 Click to rate

I feel so bad for her

7
18
 Click to rate

She made a poor choice. She risked her life to help a friend do a dangerous thing because she didn't want the consequences of saying NO. Hurt feelings, friend not speaking to her etc. She knows what she should not have done. She knows she should have recommended friend call animal control.....she knows all this in hindsight. I am glad she got a face, glad she got four million to invest and be supported on interest/market returns but enough now. Her loss is tragic but she must accept responsibility for choice and settle w what she has. A good money management professional can make the four million go farther, she will always be covered by Medicaid and disability Medicare ( court awards do not count as assets against Medicaid eligibility) and she is on SS disability. Her family will have to help w the rest. Her church doing fund raisers etc. Terrible happening but all done now.

15
47
 Click to rate

she had interacted with the animal before. do you know if she was aware of the "danger" notice for this animal? a good money manager still cannot make $4 million stretch for all that reconstruction work. ah, you're from AZ. that explains your lack of decency, compassion and humanity.

13
4
 Click to rate

What if, on the slightest of chances, she won the case? The state is broke, so funding her lawsuit would affect every single citizen of CT tremendously.

6
35
 Click to rate

There should be stricter laws on owning exotic animals. Her face looks really amazing from after the attack.

2
48
 Click to rate

I feel bad for her injuries but this is a frivolous lawsuit.

27
110
 Click to rate

She may not get her day in court against city but I don't think loosing her hands and face and eyes when the city has a duty to keep exotic animals away from being owned by the public is frivolous.

27
20
 Click to rate

I could see if she wanted all of her medical expenses covered and some sort of income to live on comfortably, but $150,000,000?!? No. She doesn't need to live like the Sultan of Brunei for the rest of her life. What happened to her was horrible but she doesn't need enough money to buy a small European country to make up for it.

3
28
 Click to rate

I feel sorry for her life changing event but she knew that the animal was there, she knew it was dangerous, she could have reported it, refused to help her friend, but both of them made the choice to keep the animal and they paid dearly for that choice. Cannot blame everyone for your choices and even me here in Arkansas so I am not going to go in somewhere were animals of the jungle are being held captive and I mean captive even with proper trained caretakers, so stop wasting everyone's time and government money, you and your friend held a wild animal captive and it turned on you end of story.

16
113
 Click to rate

I appears that you have misunderstood the situation, because the animal was NOT hers and her friend!

9
1
 Click to rate

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now