MGM Resorts International using stall tactics after family of girl who was electrically shocked filed lawsuit
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — The attorney representing the family of a girl who was severely shocked last summer at the MGM Resorts International owned National Harbor Resort in Maryland told WRC-TV News4 Washington DC on Thursday that MGMRI is using stall tactics after the family filed a lawsuit.
Zynae Green, now 7, was at an outdoor fountain of the MGM National Harbor Resort when she was shocked and went into cardiac arrest in June 2018.
Zynae spent two months in a hospital with severe injuries. She has since been moved to an acute care facility, where she is “permanently and totally disabled,” according to the lawsuit. She will need care for the remainder of her life.
Attorney Benedict Morelli, who is representing the Zynae’s family in the civil lawsuit told News4, “This is a tragedy that MGM is making worse and worse and worse.”
“She needs 24/7 care of nurses, she also needs doctors, she also needs equipment ‘cause she has a trach tube and she has a feeding tube, and this is forever,” Morelli said.
Morelli said that MGM is not responding to the lawsuit and stalling at the family’s expense.
On Monday Morelli filed an additional motion to move the case along.
News4 reported that Prince George’s County Maryland inspectors said 120 volts of electricity circulated through Zynae’s body as she held one charged railing and placed her feet on another. County inspectors said the railings were improperly installed, violating a number of building codes.
MGM Resorts International spokesperson Debra DeShong said, “We were disappointed that we were unable to reach an agreement last November when the lawsuit was filed but continue communicate with their representatives to try to reach an amicable solution.”
The lawsuit alleges the electrical contractors and inspectors were urged to finish their work quickly at the expense of safety. According to the lawsuit, the 120 volts was 10 times more than was necessary to power the handrail lighting.
MGM National Harbor is located on the banks of the Potomac River and has a casino, hotel, entertainment and stores. In 2013 MGM won state licenses in Maryland to build the $1-billion dollar luxury resort.
On the night of June 26, 2018 Prince George’s County, Maryland police officers were first to arrive on the scene and began CPR on Zynae. An MGM security officer who tried to help her, was himself shocked, and sustained non-life threatening injuries. Fire department personnel continued performing CPR on Zynae as they traveled to the hospital. She regained a pulse but was still unconscious. Zynae remained in critical condition.
Zynae was a healthy normal 6-year old girl prior to being shocked.
“Everything is wrong about this, everything is wrong, and I hope and trust that they’ll make it right,” Morelli said.
Doug authored over 135 articles on the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas Massacre, more than any other single journalist in the country. He investigates stories on corruption, law enforcement and crime. Doug is a US Army Military Police Veteran, former police officer, deputy sheriff and criminal investigator. Doug spent 20 years in the hotel/casino industry as an investigator and then as Director of Security and Surveillance. He also spent a short time with the US Dept. of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration. In 1986 Doug was awarded Criminal Investigator of the Year by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia for his undercover work in narcotics enforcement. In 1992 and 1993 Doug testified in court that a sheriff’s office official and the county prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence during the 1988 trial of a man accused of the attempted murder of his wife. Doug’s testimony led to a judge’s decision to order the release of the man from prison in 1992 and awarded him a new trial, in which he was later acquitted. As a result of Doug breaking the police “blue wall of silence,” he was fired by the county sheriff. His story was featured on Inside Edition, Current Affair and CBS News’ “Street Stories with Ed Bradley”. In 1992 after losing his job, at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Doug infiltrated a group of men who were plotting the kidnapping of a Dupont fortune heir and his wife. Doug has been a guest on national television and radio programs speaking on the stories he now writes as an investigative journalist.
Unfortunately, it once again shows their money is more important than doing the right thing. If a company has no heart, it has no place in our communities. Investors are better off with a company that has some sense of morality built into its foundation. Cutting corners for profit is exactly what allowed thru their gross negligence, these tragedies to occur. Their bottom line for investors is not an excuse, not even close. It’s their scapgoat in reasoning, and flawed principals that are the issue yet we know they held other social moralities as higher priorities, so which is it? Does MGMRI have a conscience or not?