Ex-Firefighter who took severed foot charged with theft
January 26th, 2009 by Post Staff|
The Post Cindy Economou |
FORT PIERCE— A former St. Lucie County firefighter was arrested today on theft charges in connection with a severed foot she took from an accident site in September.
Cindy Economou, 38, of Port St. Lucie, was arrested on one misdemeanor charge of petit theft and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail, then released on her own recognizance, according to an arrest report.
Economou admitted to taking Karl Lambert’s foot from the scene of the crash on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County on Sept. 19.
Lambert had crashed into a tree, severing his foot, and was later flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center. Lambert, 46, survived and Economou told St. Lucie County Fire District investigators that she took the foot because it was too damaged to reattach and she intended to use it for training cadaver dogs.
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Tim Frith said his agency has been investigating whether Economou committed any crime by taking the foot. Investigators were trying to determine if the foot could have been reattached and if it had any monetary value, he said.
According to the arrest report, investigators believe that by taking the foot without Lambert’s permission she intended to “either permanently or temporarily deprive the owner, Mr. Lambert, the right to his property.”
Frith said investigators determined the foot did have value, though they could not put a specific dollar amount on it, which is why the FHP sought petit theft charges.
Economou, a longtime firefighter, resigned on Oct. 1 amid publicity over the foot incident and an internal review by the fire district, which resulted in two fire captains receiving letters of reprimand for allowing her to take the foot.
By By JASON SCHULTZ, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tags: cindy economou, foot
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January 26th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Wow. I feel kind of bad for her. She’s lost her job, her name has been dragged through the mud, and now she’s facing a criminal charge.
Yes, I think that she used bad judgment, and probably understood that she was skirting around the edges of what was the proper way to obtain the foot. I just have a hard time seeing why, with all of the people who get killed in accidents, it is hard to come by human parts to use for cadaver dog training. Can’t they appeal to people who have limbs amputated because of diabetes, for instance? A program could be set up to compensate the people who lose the limbs, paid for by whatever foundation handles training the dogs.
Either way, she seems like a good person on the whole, who screwed up and made a mistake that she is now paying too harshly for.
And then we look at Jim Exline, who gets off easy after being a CORRUPT PUBLIC OFFICIAL. Something is not right, here.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I’ve been a firefighter/paramedic for almost 30 years. Under no circumstances is what this woman acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. Cadaver parts for dog training? And when did she become qualified to determine at the scene of an accident if a limb was too badly damaged to be reattached? That’s not what paramedics do. My question to her employer is “How did this person pass your psychological
exam?” If even one brain cell of her perverse mind told her this was a good thing to do, she needs some serious mental health treatment.