A blind Air Force veteran using a walker died after a shuttle driver shut the bus door as she tried to disembark for a medical appointment on the Veterans Affairs campus in Biloxi, a lawsuit filed in Harrison County Circuit Court says.
Three children of the veteran, Jo Ann Fleming, filed the wrongful-death lawsuit against the company that operates the VA shuttle, VetPride Services Inc., based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the unknown bus driver, identified as John Doe. A son and daughter from Pearl River County, along with a daughter in Stone County, are seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages, for her death at the VA Medical Center.
Fleming died five days after being hospitalized when she fell May 31, 2024, the lawsuit says. Fleming was days away from her 85th birthday.
“John Doe offered no assistance to her,” the lawsuit says, “but merely opened the shuttle door and waited. While Mrs. Fleming was still in the process of exiting the vehicle, John Doe, with callous disregard for Mrs. Fleming’s health and safety, closed the shuttle door.”
VetPride, which has not had time to respond to the lawsuit, questioned whether Fleming was on one of their shuttles. Human Resources Director Heather Carano said the company did not receive a report on the incident, as it normally would. She also said the VA would normally have a patient advocate accompany someone in Fleming’s condition to their appointments.
“We do not take these matters lightly,” Carano said. “We are looking into this.”
Obituary praises Picayune resident
The 84-year-old veteran, who regularly received treatment at the Biloxi VA, had been to a blindness rehabilitation appointment and was trying to get off the shuttle for her next appointment, which concerned her hearing.
The shuttle door struck Fleming as she tried to get off the bus, the lawsuit says. She flipped over the top of the walker and fell to the pavement, the lawsuit says. She was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed left lung, left rib fractures and an abrasion on her left arm. She died June 5, 2024.
Her death certificate said she died of complications from the fall, noting the collapsed lung and rib fractures.
The lawsuit maintains the shuttle driver was grossly negligent for shutting the door on Fleming and failing to assist “an elderly blind woman with a walker” as she tried to disembark. The company, the lawsuit says, is responsible for its employee’s actions.
Fleming was from Missouri, but settled with her husband in Picayune after he retired from the Air Force. They had met while both were in the service. The couple found second careers as special-education teachers, her obituary said. Fleming taught for 20 years at Picayune Memorial High School.
She was a founding member of Union Heritage Baptist Church. “She was faithful in her service as a Sunday school teacher and the church treasurer, and only stepped down when her failing vision took her ability to drive,” her obituary said. She was a master gardener who also loved to cook and sew, and was selected as Volunteer of the Year by the Picayune Civic Women’s Club.
VetPride, a contract service provider for the military, federal agencies and private companies, was founded by Vietnam veteran Roger Pierce.
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