A teddy bear doesn’t change the fact that a child went through a traumatic experience or was seriously injured in an accident. But, it can’t hurt.
State troopers usually give the bears to children involved in traumatic experiences such as car crashes, house fires, or criminal matters. They also give the bears to terminally ill children. In all these cases, the proceeds of bear sales go towards funding the gift of giving out more bears to the children who need them most.
To recognize National Teddy Bear Day, KSP asks kids with Trooper Teddies to take photos of them in different places around town or even across the country, and post them with the hashtag #TrooperTeddyTravels. Officials might repost these pictures on the KSP website.
Car Crashes
Confess-a-Bear often helps. Children, especially young children, often feel very attached to stuffed animals. But, a teddy bear, or any other toy, doesn’t help victims get the compensation they need and deserve after a car crash or other traumatic injury.
Vehicle collision victims need compensation because the medical bills alone usually exceed $55,000. These victims deserve compensation because, in most cases, the accidents weren’t their fault. Driver error causes most of the car crashes in Kentucky. The two most common driver errors are:

Impaired Driving: In spite of a decades-long drunk driver crackdown, alcohol still causes about a third of the fatal crashes in Kentucky. Driving under the influence of drugs, whether they’re legal, semi-legal, or completely illegal, is almost as big a problem. Other causes of driver impairment include a medical condition, fatigue, and distraction.
Aggressive Driving: Excessive speed, which increases the risk of a crash and multiples the force in a wreck, is the most common kind of aggressive driving. Ignoring a traffic control device, like a yield sign or stop sign, is very common as well. Other aggressive driving behaviors include tailgating and changing lanes illegally.

Speaking of traumatic injuries, these wrecks not only cause visible injuries. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder affects about half of car crash victims. PTSD symptoms, which include anger, hypervigilance, and depression, make it almost impossible for kids to function at school, home, or anywhere else.
Fires in Dwellings
Just like most car crashes aren’t accidents, most fires aren’t accidental. Owner negligence, such as the failure to address an electrical hazard, causes most such fires.
These child victims often sustain serious injuries. Flames often cause third or fourth-degree burns. These wounds always require costly and long-term treatment at speciality burn centers. In most cases, these treatments include painful skin grafts. Additionally, the smoke often causes serious and permanent lung injuries.
In a nutshell, owners are legally responsible for such injuries if they owed a duty of care to the victim and they knew, or should have known, about the hazard that caused the fire.
Apartment tenants have permission to be on the property and they benefit the owner financially. Therefore, the owner has a duty of reasonable care in these cases. Basically, the owner must make the building safe and cannot ignore hazards. A lesser duty of care applies in some other cases.
Additionally, a Lexington personal injury lawyer must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) that the owner knew, or should have known, about the fire-causing hazard. A preponderance of evidence is one of the lowest burdens of proof in Kentucky law.
Violent Crimes
Criminal defendants are legally and morally responsible for the crimes they commit. A property owner is often financially responsible for them. These victims need and deserve compensation, just like car crash and building fire victims. Frequently, the property’s owner is the only party in a position to pay this compensation.
Basically the same process outlined above applies to violent crimes. The duty of reasonable case includes a responsibility to provide adequate security. If abad guy takes advantage of inadequate security and hurts someone, the property owner is legally responsible for damages, if the owner knew, or should have known, about the inadequate security hazard.
The legally required level of security often partially depends on the nature of the property. Banks require a lot more security than bakeries. Other factors include the property’s location (e.g. is it rather secluded or off an interstate), the crime rate in the area, and prior similar incidents at that location.
A Lexington personal injury attorney uses roughly these same factors to establish foreseeability (possibility) of injury. Owners are only responsible for predictable injuries. For example, if there’s a shooting at a restaurant, its owner should beef up security.
Injury victims are usually entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Lexington, contact the Goode Law Office, PLLC. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters. The post Officials Hope Trooper Teddy Makes Life Easier for Kids first appeared on Goode Law Office, PLLC.