In
April
2017,
then-
Engineering senior Michael
Heinrich was just shy of
graduating
when
a
rotted
tree fell on him while riding
his
motorcycle
to
class.
The accident left Heinrich
quadriplegic
after
he
was
paralyzed at his C-6 vertebrae
in the neck region of the spine.
Heinrich,
who
was
studying to be a geotechnical
engineer, said he was riding
his motorcycle on a pathway
below
Northwood
housing
on North Campus when he
heard a loud crack behind
him. By the time he realized
what was happening, he said
he was pinned to the ground,
paralyzed.
From the moment he hit the
ground, he said he knew he
was going to be paralyzed for
the rest of his life.
“After my accident, I was
conscious,” Heinrich said. “I
might have blacked out for 10
seconds or so, but I knew what
was going on, and I was laying
there. I was like, ‘I need to get
up.’ And I realized I couldn’t
get up. At that moment, I knew
I was paralyzed.”
After spending the summer
in intensive care and then
rehab at Michigan Medicine
in 2017 — accumulating more
than $2 million in medical bills
— he and his family turned to
the University to ask for help
paying the bills.
Heinrich’s
family
then
pursued legal action, seeking
some compensation for the
care that Heinrich received
and would need in the future.
The lawsuit — a copy of
which was obtained by The
Daily — was filed in October
2018 under claims of gross
negligence. The Daily also
obtained the transcript of a
hearing on June 26, 2019 at the
Washtenaw
County
Circuit
Court.
Currently,
lawyer
Dean
Googasian of The Googasian
Firm, PC, a firm handling
catastrophic injury cases, is
representing
Heinrich.
His
case is still in litigation.
University
spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen said in an
email to The Daily that the
University regrets the incident
but
cannot
comment
on
ongoing litigation.
“The University is sorry
this
accident
occurred,”
Broekhuizen wrote. “However,
the tree had been appropriately
inspected prior to the accident
and appeared to be healthy.
As a result, the circuit court
dismissed the case and the
plaintiff has appealed.”
Heinrich said the case was
filed under claims of gross
negligence and alleges the
University knew the tree was
rotted and yet did not follow
proper procedure to ensure
the safety of those passing by
the tree.
According to the transcript
The Daily obtained, University
lawyer Keefe Brooks said gross
negligence is “conduct that
essentially exhibits an I-don’t-
care-type attitude.” In this
case, the University arborist,
Marvin Pettway, had inspected
the tree for rotting and had
allegedly noticed the fungus
but determined it was not
convincing of full-rot.
According
to
Googasian,
Pettway
said
during
his
deposition, that if it fell, it
could
“crack
the
concrete
built for trucks to drive on.”
But Brooks said that Pettway
didn’t determine it a risk with
the information he collected.
Under
this
provision,
the
University asserted they do not
owe Heinrich compensation.
Heinrich
pointed
to
an
aspect of the lawsuit that
mentions patches of fungi that
were apparent on the base of
the tree, showing it was rotting.
“The reason why there was
even a possible case is that at
the time, we looked from the
Google Street maps view and
you could see fungus at the base
of the tree,” Heinrich said.
As time passed, Heinrich
said he and his family felt the
University became increasingly
callous about the situation.
While
he
was
in
the
intensive care unit only a
few days after the accident,
Heinrich was intubated and
had a tracheotomy to help him
breathe. His neck was snapped
and his spine was broken, along
with many other bones. While
in this state, he said a University
liaison from the Engineering
department visited him in the
hospital
demanding
graded
assignments for a course for
which he served as an assistant
instructor. Heinrich said he
was in disbelief he was being
asked this in the hospital.
“The liaison was obviously
fully aware of my situation,”
Heinrich said. “She was like,
‘We need these papers that
he graded.’ And here I am in
the hospital trying to explain
where these papers are and I
was like, ‘What? You need these
papers, and yet I’m literally here
possibly dying.’ The University
didn’t care if I was alive. They
didn’t care about anything.”
Heinrich also said he was
extremely upset when this
liaison told him, during this
exchange, that the University
didn’t have the funds to help
mitigate any costs for him.
“I might have broken my
neck, I might have snapped
everything in my body, and if
there were five stages of grief
for your body, I was essentially
grieving,” Heinrich said. “I was
going out of those pretty quickly
and still, I wasn’t broken until
the University told me, ‘We’re
not going to help you out.’”
Heinrich also described his
struggle with everyday care.
Before the accident, he said
his parents lived in Ludington,
Mich., but they have since
moved to Ann Arbor to care for
him full-time.
Heinrich said care is a large
financial burden, and he is
now receiving federal food
stamps. He also said he receives
coverage through Medicaid and
Medicare and uses disability
rights and social security to pay
for health care.
He said he now requires
special
medical
appliances
to urinate, which would cost
$36,000 per year without his
insurance. Heinrich said he has
been forced to pay this because
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, February 24, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Students
Demand
Action,
a division of Everytown for
Gun Safety, and the American
Civil Liberties Union hosted a
discussion on the impact of gun
violence on communities of color.
About 30 students and professors
attended the event on Friday
evening at Annenberg Auditorium.
Nursing junior Grace Bontrager,
co-leader of the Students Demand
Action
at
the
University
of
Michigan, said she formed the
group after the Parkland school
shooting in 2018.
Bontrager said their group was
the first SDA to start on a university
campus.
“I wanted a concrete way to get
involved in gun violence prevention
in my community,” Bontrager said.
“It’s a lofty goal but essentially
(SDA) wants to end gun violence in
America by working with everyone
in the country and the 300+ SDA
groups across the nation. Our three
main pillars of what we do here
are education by talking about the
issue, policy, legislative work and
community work.”
The conversation began with the
three panel members introducing
themselves and sharing the impact
gun violence has had on their lives.
University
alum
Benjamin
Hester,
a
representative
of
Solomon Rajput’s campaign for
Congress, spoke about the recent
loss of his teenage cousin. Hester
said his cousin wasn’t a part of any
gangs and did not possess firearms
but was leaving school when an
altercation occurred.
“It’s something that I’ve been
thinking
about
and
working
through, and it just never really
makes sense to me to be angry at
some 20-year-old running around
trying to play gangster because he
didn’t feel like there was anything
else or that there was another life
that he would have wanted to live,”
Hester said.
RESEARCH
Community disappointed, but not surprised at news of Philbert, Mars, Anderson
Dr. Karl Hausker, the Senior
Fellow of the World Resources
Institute’s Energy and Climate
Program, delivered a lecture
to around 60 students and Ann
Arbor residents at the Gerald
R. Ford School of Public Policy
early Friday afternoon. In his
lecture, Hausker examined how
humans can and will solve the
climate crisis through the use
of renewables, nuclear plants
and carbon capture. He also
discussed the role of states,
cities and companies in the
clean energy transition.
In addition to his role at the
WRI, Hausker previously served
President Bill Clinton as deputy
assistant administrator for Policy,
Planning and Evaluation with the
Environmental Protection Agency
as well as the chief economist for
the U.S. Senate Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources.
During the lecture, Hausker
discussed getting to net-zero
by producing enough renewable
energy to meet annual energy
use requirements in buildings
and cities throughout the
nation.
Dr. Hausker
speaks on
moving to
renewables
CAMPUS LIFE
Previous Bill Clinton
EPA official examines
various clean energy
transition, alternatives
JENNA SITEMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
The School of Information
and the Center for Academic
Innovation
at
the
University
of
Michigan
co-sponsored
a
discussion on how to maintain
safety
in
extended
reality
technological
worlds.
UMSI
assistant professor Florian Schuab
hosted the discussion and featured
the expertise of Kavya Pearlman,
founder and CEO of XR Safety
Initiatives.
Pearlman was a cybersecurity
strategist at Wallarm, a former
information security director at
Linden Lab and a former Facebook
third-party security risk advisor.
She
said
her
professional
experience corroborates with her
personal interests in emerging
technologies, gaming and virtual
worlds.
Pearlman said because it is
abnormal for her to go more than
a few days without using virtual
reality, it is important to have a
governing set of rules for those
who go into virtual worlds. She
discussed how being a woman as
well as a person who wears a hijab
has put her at risk of harassment
multiple times, including a specific
instance of sexual harassment.
Past Facebook advisor
highlights dilemmas
plaguing new digital
worlds, technologies
JENNA SITEMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Panelists share personal stories,
advocate for legislative change
NAVYA GUPTA
Daily Staff Reporter
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 76
©2020 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A
OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A
CROSSWORD................6A
M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
Expert talks
safer use of
extended VR
experiences
Following announcements of
multiple University of Michigan-
affiliated faculty and staff facing
misconduct
claims
since
the
Winter 2020 semester began,
a number of students told The
Daily they have lost trust in the
University’s ability to protect
them.
Several
University
faculty
members faced sexual misconduct
accusations made public within
the past month. Martin Philbert,
provost
and
executive
vice
president for academic affairs,
was placed on leave effective
Jan. 20 for sexual misconduct
and
harassment
allegations.
Engineering
professor
Jason
Mars stepped down from his
position as CEO of Clinc, an AI
company he founded, after The
Verge published allegations of
sexual misconduct and abusive
behavior against him on Feb. 13.
On Wednesday, multiple sexual
assault allegations brought against
the late Robert E. Anderson,
former
director
and
sports
physician of University Health
Services, were made public.
University
President
Mark
Schlissel
sent
an
email
to
University students and faculty
on Jan. 22 informing them of
Philbert’s
leave
from
office.
Philbert was appointed as provost
and vice president for academic
affairs in 2017 and previously
served in various roles in the
School of Public Health since 1995.
The Detroit Free Press reported
the
University
has
known
about other sexual misconduct
allegations against Philbert since
2003.
In response to a request for
comment, the University’s Office
of Public Affairs directed The
Daily to Schlissel’s statement on
the several recent allegations
during the Feb. 20 Board of
Regents meeting.
Students discuss several recent
‘U’ sexual misconduct allegations
See MISCONDUCT, Page 2A
Panel analyzes
impact of gun
violence in PoC
communities
Alum sues University over injuries
from North Campus falling tree
Michael Heinrich was left paralyzed and accuses school of negligence
CALDER LEWIS &
JASMIN LEE
Daily Staff Reporters
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
DESIGN BY LIZZY RUEPPEL
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
LAURA MILLAR
For The Daily
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
SPORTSMONDAY
Red-hot
Michigan beats Purdue, 71-63, for five-
game win streak.
» Page 1B