LITTLE ROCK — In a halting monotone, Joe Rustenhaven told a federal jury that he was knocked unconscious at least three times when American Airlines Flight 1420 crashed while landing in Little Rock nearly two years ago.
Those jolts to his body and brain have robbed him of a normal life, he told the eight-member panel that will decide today how much money American should pay him for his injuries.
Rustenhaven, 62, once a purchasing manager for an aerospace company that had transferred him to Maumelle, appeared near tears at the end of his tale of the June 1, 1999, crash, which killed 11.
He said that after he awoke from the initial jolt, someone else's briefcase was in his lap and his left temple was bleeding. Directly in front of him, he could see a dangling wire harness on fire.
"I stepped into the aisle and I was knocked down, and I had people stepping on me like I was a doormat," Rustenhaven said. He made his way to the emergency exit, then hit his head on the wing as he escaped the burning plane, which had come to rest about 250 yards short of the Arkansas River.
When he came to in a driving thunderstorm, he fell off the wing into the muck, losing consciousness for a third time, he said.
The rain woke him and he crawled, then stumbled, away from the plane, ending up in a slough that runs parallel to the river. The water was waist-deep.
Rustenhaven told of a woman who tried to help him. Her sweater was smoking, he said. "I just stood there, frozen."
He said the crash has ruined flying for him. "I will never again allow myself to be trapped in a plane, never allow those doors to be closed."
Rustenhaven's testimony completed his case against American. Earlier Thursday, his psychiatrist testified that Rustenhaven was still tormented by hallucinations.
Dr. Tom Freeman, who practices at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Little Rock, said Rustenhaven's symptoms were "as bad as any" he'd seen and patients afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder to that degree are often "lonely, sad, isolated people."
Freeman said Rustenhaven was now predisposed to developing other medical problems, such as Type II diabetes and long-term depression. He agreed with Rustenhaven's psychologists that Rustenhaven, because he is tormented by his lack of progress, could develop suicidal tendencies.
American opened its case with testimony from Dr. Dennis Lucy, a neurologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who said his examination of Rustenhaven was inconclusive and he could not determine if Rustenhaven was brain-damaged.
He challenged a report written by neuropsychologist Nancy Lyons, who said Rustenhaven had trouble thinking straight. That diagnosis came about the time Rustenhaven's boss was giving him a good evaluation and a raise. The two events didn't seem to jibe, Lucy said.
He said he did not believe that Rustenhaven was faking his symptoms, and he agreed that a brain test did show some abnormalities, but he thought that might be due to Rustenhaven's age and high blood pressure.
American plans to call one more witness this morning before the case, the fifth to be tried before U.S. District Judge Henry Woods, goes to the jury.
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