This story is a particularly tough one -- but there are things we can all do to help Jessica Bunch and her family, and something we can all do to force Redbox to step up and protect employees and customers who are using or servicing their outdoor rental machines.
First, the story of Jessica Bunch is one of those split second accidents that was totally foreseeable yet no one had seen fit to do anything to prevent. Standing at a Redbox machine outside of a CVS in Canton, Texas, Jessica was run over from behind when a 73 year-old driver failed to stop her SUV and accelerated over the sidewalk and crushed Jessica, severely injuring her.
Here is a link to the excellent FOX 4 coverage:
http://www.fox4news.com/story/29573831/texas-teens-tragedy-inspires-fathers-push-for-parking-safety
Here is some additional information and more video showing the layout of the machine at the time, as well as the brand new replacement machine already installed in exactly the same site, WITH NO PROTECTIVE BARRIERS INSTALLED TO PREVENT A REPEAT OF THIS TRAGEDY: See the YouTube HERE
Now there are TWO WAYS to help --
1) Jessica already has over $400,000 in medical bills and her family has started an online fund raiser on Give Forward to help cover these costs. There are also updates on her condition and additional information.
Please give here: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/rgf9/jessica-bunch-extendend-hospital-relief
2) Jessica's father makes an impassioned point that putting up another Redbox machine in this location without any kind of protective barriers installed is just asking for another tragedy to occur and it shows that both Redbox and CVS are just pretending that nothing ever happened.
Call Redbox (owned by Coinstar) at (630) 756-8000 and ask to speak to the person in charge of customer safety for Redbox. If they cannot give you that number, ask to speak to the legal department.
Call CVS President Larry Merlo at 401-765-1500. Ask him when CVS is going to start making ALL of their storefronts safer for customers and pedestrians.
These accidents are completely foreseeable, completely predictable, and completely preventable. For about $1200, CVS and Redbox could have prevented that SUV from crossing the sidewalk and crushing Jessica against the Redbox machine. Redbox has been on notice since at least 2012 that their customers and employees are at risk every day, and CVS has experienced hundreds of building strikes from wayward vehicles at their stores all over the United States. This accident was not a surprise to them.
But it certainly was to Jessica Bunch and to her family.
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