Ex-Amesbury police officer awarded $2M for injuries

Oct. 2--AMESBURY -- The insurance company for a New Jersey concert promoter recently paid $2 million to a former Amesbury police officer who was seriously injured by a man diving off a stage in 2017.

Jason Kooken of Exeter, New Hampshire, sustained spinal injuries on April 2, 2017, when a fan at the Asbury Convention Hall was allowed to climb onto the stage and do a corkscrew jump over a band's lead singer and onto Kooken's head, damaging his spine.

Kooken "immediately fell to the ground and lost feeling in his extremities," Kooken's attorney, Mark Morris of Clark Law Firm in New Jersey, said in a statement.

Kooken, who is 50, was a 16-year veteran of the Amesbury Police Department at the time of the accident and is known for his love of punk, hardcore and bluegrass music. He retired from the department in August 2019, but had been on disability leave for more than a year.

The accident occurred at the Convention Hall during a 20-band event promoted by Asbury Audio Inc. Thousands of punk and hardcore fans crowded the hall, with Kooken standing close to the stage to watch one of his friends perform.

When the stage diver leaped toward Kooken, he was unable to move out of the way and was struck in the head. Kooken was taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center for spinal column surgery that included the removal of neck vertebrae and the fusion of others.

Following surgery, Kooken did not have enough money to make it home, prompting an online GoFundMe drive that raised money to have an ambulance drive him to New England.

The former police officer, who was an active individual before the incident, worked diligently with his doctors to return to activities he had done before, including surfing, bike riding and skiing, according to Morris.

In March 2019, Morris filed a complaint in Monmouth County Superior Court in New Jersey, claiming the venue's security officers failed to adequately protect Kooken and others from "potential dangers by permitting things like stage diving at the concert."

By August 2020, the case had proceeded to the mediation phase before Judge Kenneth K. Grispin. Shortly following mediation, the case was resolved for $2 million, that figure representing Asbury Audio Inc.'s $2 million insurance policy acquired for the concerts.

The case only pursued an insurance recovery. The individual defendants were voluntarily dismissed from the case without having to pay anything, Morris added.

"We are pleased we were able to recover the maximum amount of available insurance coverage for our client. This type of needless injury should have been prevented and they should not have let people jump off the stage onto the crowd," Morris said.

"People who go to concerts should not have to worry about someone landing on their head. It is important concert venues and promoters hire competent security people that don't let this kind of thing happen. We hope by achieving this result, we can prevent this kind of thing from happening to others in the future."

Calls to Kooken for comment were not returned.

___

(c)2020 The Daily News of Newburyport (Newburyport, Mass.)

Visit The Daily News of Newburyport (Newburyport, Mass.) at www.newburyportnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.