On February 3, Clay Carpenter and two golfing buddies went to hit around at The Golf Club at the Resort in Fort Worth. They made it through the front nine okay, but ran into a group of four golfers on number 12.
Carpenter's group was fine with waiting behind the foursome, but they were soon approached by an employee of the club who told them there were open holes ahead and should play through. "One of them up there ain't right," the man said, but urged them to play through anyway.
Carpenter made it as far as the tee box when an apparently wasted golfer named Roy Douglas Vinson allegedly walked toward him, cursing and threatening to kick Carpenter's ass. When Carpenter told him to calm down and let them play through, Vinson stepped up to Carpenter's face and continued to threaten him. The lawsuit Carpenter filed last week, first reported by Courthouse News, picks the action up from there:
Without warning, Defendant Vinson stepped back and assaulted Plaintiff Clay Carpenter with his putter in a "tomahawk-chop" manner. Plaintiff Clay Carpenter attempted to block the club with his left hand. The club was brought down with such force that it not only broke Plaintiff Clay Carpenter's thumb, but it also broke the head off of the shaft, leaving only a jagged golf club shaft.Plaintiff Clay Carpenter immediately reacted by tackling and attempting to subdue Vinson in an effort to defend himself from further attack.
Unfortunately, Defendant Vinson continued to hold on to the broken golf club shaft and negligently retaine the broken golf club shaft upon which Plaintiff Clay Carpenter fell. As the broken golf club shaft traveled through Plaintiff Clay Carpenter's lower abdomen/groin area, the golf shaft pierced Plaintiff Clay Carpenter's right Femoral Artery.
Plaintiff Clay Carpenter briefly stood, noticed the large amount of blood flowing from his body and fell back to the ground where he proceeded to bleed profusely and lose consciousness.Plaintiff Clay Carpenter remembers very little due to the large amount of blood that was lost. Plaintiff Clay Carpenter was rushed to the hospital where he almost lost his life in transit, remained for over a week, endured numerous surgeries, has lost the effective use of his right leg and foot, and continues with the possibility of losing his right leg from the knee down.
Then there's this: Carpenter's wife was "caused to lose the consortium of her spouse ... (and) will continue to suffer from these injuries and losses for the remainder of her lifetime."
Carpenter didn't die, but that was no thanks to The Golf Club at the Resort, which the lawsuit claims was negligent for not preventing the attack. For one thing, the staffer who told them to play through should have known that Vinson wouldn't take kindly to that and could have at least stayed to ensure they did so safely. The club also should have stopped serving drinks to Vinson well before the point where he was liable to beat fellow players with golf clubs.
All in all, the suit claims, the golf club should pay for medical and legal bills, lost wages and earning capacity, and damages for disfigurement, pain and mental anguish.
