At approximately 1:13 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2016, Pally was killed by an SUV leaving the fire station to respond to a false alarm on North Eagleville Road. (Courtesy/Hartford Courant)
The parents of a sophomore at the University of Connecticut who died after being run over by a fire truck in 2016 have reached a $1 million settlement against the state and other defendants, according to the Hartford Courant.
Jeffny Pally, a 19-year-old allied health sciences major from West Hartford, fell asleep by the UConn Fire Department’s garage door in the early morning hours of Oct. 16 after returning from an off-campus party. She was killed after a department vehicle responding to a call accidentally ran her over.
Pally’s parents, Abraham and Shinymol Chemmarappally, sued the state, the driver of the vehicle and the Kappa Sigma fraternity that hosted the party at which Pally drank alcohol for negligence, recklessness and several other claims. The allegations against the driver were dismissed by the judge.
Dana Barrow, who retired in 2017 from the fire department, thought he had run over a piece of equipment and continued to the reported call of a dormitory fire, which turned out to be a false alarm. He claimed he planned to check on the equipment after returning from the call. Barrow was not criminally charged.
Six of the students in the Kappa Sigma fraternity were arrested after the incident on alcohol-related charges. Their charges were erased upon completion of a probation program and the fraternity was expelled from the university.
The family’s lawyer, Michael Walsh, released a statement on the family’s behalf on Monday.
“The Chemmarappally family believes the case was resolved in a fair and just manner,” the statement said. “Everyday they still mourn the loss of their beautiful daughter Jeffny. Beyond that, they have no comment.”
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Taylor Harton is the associate news editor for The Daily Campus. She can be reached by email at taylor.harton@uconn.edu.
