Man to firefighter who stole his foot: ‘I’ve got to live with this’
May 29th, 2009 by TCPalm.comFORT PIERCE — A St. Lucie County Fire District firefighter who took a man’s foot and part of his leg from an Interstate 95 crash scene last year was sentenced Friday to six months’ probation on a charge of second-degree petit theft.
County Judge Philip Yaccuci withheld adjudication against Cynthia “Cindy” Economou, 38, who admitted she took the foot belonging to Karl Lambert, who was seriously injured in the accident, but said she did so to help train her body-recovery dog.
Economou had faced up to 60 days in jail. Assistant State Attorney Gayle Braun had asked that Economou be sentenced to five days in jail, one for each day Economou had the severed foot before turning it over to authorities.
“I never meant any malice,” Economou said at Friday’s hearing. “I never meant to cause (Lambert) any pain.”
Standing on crutches, Lambert said, “I’ve got to live with this the rest of my life.”
Braun asked Lambert if the severed foot could have been surgically reattached to his leg.
“We’ll never know,” Lambert replied.
“Is that because it took too long to get it to a doctor?” Braun asked.
“We’ll never know,” Lambert repeated.
Economou said the foot had been trapped in the wreckage, and she found it about an hour after Lambert was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
“It was an unrecognizable mass of flesh,” she said. “It wasn’t a clean cut. You couldn’t even recognize it as a foot. … If I had thought it was somehow re-attachable and usable, I would have gone to my commander.”
Yacucci called the case “highly unusual” and Economou “made an extremely bad judgment call” but found that she wasn’t out for personal or “pecuniary gain.”
Noting that Economou was named the district’s firefighter of the year in 2007 and is the founder of Fully Involved Farms, which trains physically, emotionally and mentally challenged residents how to ride horses and compete in equestrian events at the Special Olympic, Yacucci told her, “The commendable life you’ve led to this point greatly outweighs one bad judgment.”
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May 29th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I’ll bet that Bobbitt fellow’s glad she wasn’t around when he lost a body part.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Poor guy. He can’t sue. He doen’t have a leg to stand on.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
damn thems so effed up people out there
May 30th, 2009 at 12:22 am
This story is sad and shocking. It is horrifying that a public servant and rescue professional would do such a thing.
Saying that she thought the limb was not usable was not her call to make. Her actions reflect dereliction of duty, malfeasance, unethical behavior and failure to provide basic standards of care to an innocent victim.
May 30th, 2009 at 2:37 am
What is she doing with the spare parts? Is she building another person? This dumb bytch needs to be fired…it was a mistake to hire her in the first place. Dosen’t this agency have a physological test?
May 30th, 2009 at 8:13 am
She took a foot and got the boot. Sounds fair.
May 30th, 2009 at 9:20 am
i bet he’s madder then a one legged waiter at ihop!!!!
May 30th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I bet if it was her family member she would have given the foot to her commander,and We depend on people like her. Thank God not everyone is as unethical as she was/is.
May 30th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Obviously, the rescue personnel/paramedics who worked on this man at the scene to remove him from the vehicle knew that the mangled foot (that they had to amputate to get him out of the truck) was “left behind” in the wreckage. Did no one ask them why they left it behind to begin with -could it possibly be that they realized that this was a “mangled piece of flesh/bones” that could not possibly be reattached? But yes, after the foot was found “one hour later”, it should have been sent to the hospital no matter it’s condition. I wonder if a mangled foot found one hour later could possibly have been reattached?????
May 30th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Podiatry Care…
[...] Braun asked Lambert if the severed foot could have been surgically reattached to his leg. We’ll never know, Lambert replied. Is that because it took too long to get it to a doctor? Braun asked. We’ll never know, Lambert repeated. … [...]…
May 30th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
a eye for a eye
a foot for a foot
a mans foot used to train a dog????
she got off easy I’m ashamed that is all we feel this mans foot was worth.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:42 am
Every time Cindy Economou opens her mouth, she puts her foot in it, or wait is it her foot? I cant believe she played God. I am really surprised there is not serious jail time for a public figure stealing a human body part. This man deserves a lot of money in court.
August 27th, 2010 at 3:17 am
Who knows what happens next… All I know is:
Pentiums melt in your PC, not in your hand.