Accident that left man paralyzed goes to trial

Stonington - One orange traffic cone.

That's what Edward Petner Jr. of Darien says dramatically changed his life in August 2003 when he was bicycling along the shoulder of Route 1 and approached the traffic light at the intersection of Flanders Road.

Petner says when he swerved to avoid the cone and entered the travel lane, he was struck by a car driven by a young Stonington woman.

The impact left Petner, a 44-year-old investment banker who had earned $2 million the previous year, paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. He has been unable to return to work and requires around-the-clock care from his wife. The couple have four children.

At the time Petner was bicycling in Stonington he owned a second home in the Weekapaug section of Westerly.

This morning, Petner and his attorney, Robert Reardon of New London, are scheduled to be in Stamford Superior Court to pick a jury in his case against Electrical Contractors Inc., the Hartford firm he charges left behind the cone after finishing the replacement of the traffic light 11 days earlier. The driver of the car, Stacy Moody, and its owner, Frederick Moody of Shawondasee Drive, are also listed as defendants.

Reardon said other defendants originally named in the lawsuit, such as the state and town, have been dropped from the case after all provided statements they had never used cones at the site. ECI was one of the firms working at the intersection and Reardon said it left behind three cones after the work was done.

"Our position is that if the cone was not there, no accident would have occurred, because it forced him to move to the left," Reardon said. "No one could offer an explanation about why the cones were left there."

Reardon said he expects it will take a week or two to pick a jury and does not expect to begin presenting evidence in the case until the end of the month.

Attorneys for ECI and the Moodys could not be reached for comment Monday.

According to a police report, Petner was riding west on Route 1 on the morning of Aug. 23, 2003 when he came to the intersection and was struck by the car being driven by Stacy Moody, then 20, who was turning east onto Route 1 from Flanders Road. Petner collided with the car's windshield and came to rest on the hood. He suffered a severed spine.

The police report states that Petner was not traveling in the right portion of the lane and failed to stop at the line for the red light. Police took no enforcement action.

j.wojtas@theday.com