Stepbrother Threw Me Down Elevator Shaft Demanding Trust Fund Access—The Spinal Injury MRIs Reach... — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The email from Patterson and Associates
2. 0:02arrived at 9:47 a.m. on a Tuesday. Trust
3. 0:05fund accessible upon your 25th birthday
4. 0:08next month. Current value $6.8 million.
5. 0:12I stared at the number. Dad had died
6. 0:14when I was 12, leaving everything in a
7. 0:16trust I couldn't touch until 25. I'd
8. 0:19known it existed. Mom mentioned it
9. 0:21occasionally, but seeing the actual
10. 0:23figure made my hands shake. I forwarded
11. 0:26it to Mom with a single line, "Did you
12. 0:28know it was this much?" Her response
13. 0:30came in seconds. "Don't tell Richard's
14. 0:33family. Not yet." I looked up from my
15. 0:35phone. My stepbrother Derek stood in my
16. 0:38apartment doorway, gym bag over his
17. 0:40shoulder. He'd been crashing on my couch
18. 0:43for 6 weeks after his third failed
19. 0:45startup collapsed. "What's got you
20. 0:47smiling?" Derek asked. I locked my
21. 0:50phone. "Nothing. Work stuff." But Derek
22. 0:53had already seen enough. His eyes
23. 0:55narrowed slightly, then he grinned.
24. 0:58"Cool. Hey, you still meeting with
25. 1:00lawyers this week?" My stomach dropped.
26. 1:02"How did you Your calendars sync to the
27. 1:04kitchen tablet, man?" He shrugged.
28. 1:07"Patterson and Associates. Estate
29. 1:09planning, right? Inheritance stuff." I
30. 1:11said nothing. "That's great." Derek
31. 1:14continued, voice too casual. "Really
32. 1:17happy for you. Your dad was smart with
33. 1:19money." He left for the gym. I sat
34. 1:22alone, Mom's warning echoing in my head.
35. 1:25Over the next 3 weeks, Derek's questions
36. 1:27multiplied. "How much are we talking?
37. 1:30Ballpark? When do you actually get
38. 1:32access? You'd help family out, right? I
39. 1:35mean, if someone needed a business
40. 1:37loan." I kept my answers vague. Derek's
41. 1:40last three businesses had failed
42. 1:42spectacularly. A cryptocurrency trading
43. 1:44platform, an organic meal delivery
44. 1:47service, and something involving NFTs he
45. 1:50could never quite explain. His father
46. 1:52Richard had funded all three, losing
47. 1:54over $200,000 in the process. Mom pulled
48. 1:58me aside at Sunday dinner. "Derek's been
49. 2:00asking Richard about your trust fund. He
50. 2:03thinks it's family money that should be
51. 2:05shared." Her face was tight. "Be
52. 2:07careful. I haven't told him anything. He
53. 2:10doesn't need you to tell him. He's
54. 2:12already decided he's entitled to it."
55. 2:14That night, Derek cornered me in my
56. 2:17apartment kitchen. "I need 50,000. Just
57. 2:20a bridge loan until my new venture gets
58. 2:22funding." "Derek, I don't even have
59. 2:24access yet." "But you will. Next week,
60. 2:27right? Your birthday." His smile didn't
61. 2:30reach his eyes. "Come on. We're
62. 2:32brothers. Step brothers." I said
63. 2:34quietly. "And I'm not loaning money for
64. 2:37another business that" "That what?" His
65. 2:40voice hardened. "That fails. You think
66. 2:42you're better than me because your dead
67. 2:44daddy left you millions." "I think I'm
68. 2:46not responsible for your financial
69. 2:48decisions." He stared at me for a long
70. 2:51moment, then laughed without humor.
71. 2:53"You're going to regret being selfish."
72. 2:55My 25th birthday was a Wednesday. The
73. 2:58appointment with Patterson and
74. 2:59Associates was scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
75. 3:02in their downtown office, 14th floor of
76. 3:05the Heartwell building. I took the
77. 3:06morning off work fielding texts from
78. 3:08Mom. "Yo wassup
79. 3:11yet yet yet
80. 3:13yet
81. 3:14Looking forward to celebrating tonight."
82. 3:16Nothing from Derek. The Heartwell
83. 3:18building was undergoing elevator
84. 3:20maintenance. Signs everywhere warned
85. 3:22about construction. Certain shafts
86. 3:24offline. Caution tape blocking access. I
87. 3:27checked my phone for the office number.
88. 3:30Suite 1407.
89. 3:32The elevator bank was mostly empty.
90. 3:34Lunch hour, everyone already upstairs. I
91. 3:37pressed the button for 14, reviewing the
92. 3:40trust documents on my phone. "Hey." I
93. 3:43spun around. Derek stood 5 ft away,
94. 3:46hands in his jacket pockets. My heart
95. 3:48jumped. "Jesus, you scared me." "Sorry."
96. 3:52He didn't look sorry. Lawyers
97. 3:53appointment today, right? Derek, what
98. 3:56are you doing here? We need to talk
99. 3:58about the money. His voice was flat. The
100. 4:0150,000. Actually, make it a 100. I found
101. 4:04investors, but they want to see. I have
102. 4:07skin in the game. The elevator dinged.
103. 4:09Doors opened to an empty shaft. Just
104. 4:12darkness and concrete three floors
105. 4:14below. The maintenance crew had
106. 4:16forgotten to replace the caution tape. I
107. 4:18stepped back instinctively. The
108. 4:20elevator's not. I know. Derek said,
109. 4:23"Perfect timing, actually. We can talk
110. 4:26without interruptions." Something in his
111. 4:28tone made my pulse spike. We were alone
112. 4:31in this corridor. The shaft gaped behind
113. 4:33me like an open mouth. Derek, I'm not
114. 4:36giving you money for another. Transfer
115. 4:38the trust today. He moved. Both hands on
116. 4:41my chest, shoving hard. I stumbled
117. 4:44backward, arms pinwheeling, and then
118. 4:46there was nothing beneath my feet. The
119. 4:48fall lasted forever. And no time at all.
120. 4:52Three floors, 45 ft. My scream cut off
121. 4:55when my back met concrete at terminal
122. 4:57velocity. Sound vanished. Pain arrived
123. 5:00in waves, crushing, totalizing, then
124. 5:03strangely absent. I tried to move my
125. 5:06legs. Nothing. Tried again. Nothing.
126. 5:09Above me, Derek's face appeared over the
127. 5:11edge of the shaft, backlit by
128. 5:13fluorescent lights. Our eyes met. He
129. 5:16looked shocked that I was conscious.
130. 5:18Then he ran. I lay on cold concrete,
131. 5:21unable to feel anything below my chest,
132. 5:24and understood with perfect clarity. My
133. 5:26stepbrother had just tried to murder me.
134. 5:29Building security found me 4 minutes
135. 5:31later. I heard footsteps, shouts,
136. 5:34someone screaming into a phone. We need
137. 5:36paramedics. Now, man fell down the
138. 5:38elevator shaft. He's conscious. The
139. 5:41security guard knelt beside me. Don't
140. 5:44move, sir. Help is coming. Can you tell
141. 5:46me what happened? My stepbrother, I
142. 5:49whispered. Derek Morrison. He pushed me.
143. 5:52The guard's eyes widened. Someone pushed
144. 5:55you? Check the cameras. Third floor
145. 5:57corridor. He pushed me and ran.
146. 6:00Paramedics arrived in 7 minutes. They
147. 6:02stabilized my neck, slid a board beneath
148. 6:05me, secured my head. I watched their
149. 6:08faces as they checked my legs, squeezed
150. 6:10my feet, ran something sharp along my
151. 6:13soles. Can you feel this? No. How about
152. 6:17this? No. One paramedic met the other's
153. 6:20eyes. I saw everything in that look.
154. 6:22They rushed me to St. Catherine's
155. 6:24Medical Center. Calling ahead. Spinal
156. 6:27trauma. High thoracic. Patient has no
157. 6:30sensation below mid-chest. We're looking
158. 6:32at cord injury. The ER was controlled
159. 6:35chaos. Trauma team surrounded me within
160. 6:37seconds. Cutting off my clothes,
161. 6:40starting IVs, shouting orders. Someone
162. 6:43held my hand. I'm Dr. Kowalski,
163. 6:46orthopedic surgery. Can you tell me what
164. 6:49happened? Fell three floors. Landed on
165. 6:51my back. Pushed or fell? Pushed my
166. 6:54stepbrother. She made a note. Eyes
167. 6:56sharp. We're taking you for imaging now.
168. 6:59CT first, then MRI. We need to see
169. 7:02what's happening with your spine. The CT
170. 7:05scan took 12 minutes. The MRI took 45. I
171. 7:09lay perfectly still in the machine's
172. 7:11tunnel, listening to it clunk and whir,
173. 7:13mapping the destruction of my spinal
174. 7:15cord in millimeter slices. Dr. Kowalski
175. 7:18met me in the ER bay afterward. Tablet
176. 7:21in hand. You have a burst fracture of
177. 7:23your T7 vertebra. The bone fragments are
178. 7:26compressing your spinal cord. We need
179. 7:28emergency surgery to decompress and
180. 7:31stabilize. Will I walk again? The pause
181. 7:34lasted 3 seconds too long. We're
182. 7:36focusing on preventing further damage
183. 7:38right now. The cord is severely
184. 7:40compressed until we can visualize it
185. 7:43directly during surgery. I can't give
186. 7:45you a prognosis, which meant no. The
187. 7:48answer was no. Police arrived while they
188. 7:50prepped me for surgery. Detective Reyes
189. 7:53pulled a chair beside my gurney.
190. 7:55Building security gave us the footage,
191. 7:57she said quietly.
192. 8:00We have Derek Morrison on camera
193. 8:02following you into that corridor. We
194. 8:04have him tearing down the caution tape 2
195. 8:06minutes before you arrived, and we have
196. 8:09clear video of him pushing you into that
197. 8:11shaft. Relief flooded through me. Then
198. 8:13you'll arrest him. Warrant's already
199. 8:15issued. Attempted murder, aggravated
200. 8:18assault. We'll have him in custody
201. 8:20within hours. She paused. Your
202. 8:23stepbrother made a lot of mistakes. He
203. 8:25didn't realize how many cameras that
204. 8:27building has. We have 12 different
205. 8:29angles. They wheeled me toward the
206. 8:31operating room. The anesthesiologist
207. 8:34introduced herself, started the IV
208. 8:37sedatives. My last conscious thought was
209. 8:39of Derek's face looking down at me from
210. 8:42the shaft's edge. Surprised I survived.
211. 8:45I woke 16 hours later in the ICU. Body
212. 8:48encased in a surgical brace. Monitors
213. 8:51beeping steadily. Mom sat beside my bed,
214. 8:54face destroyed by tears. Baby, she
215. 8:57whispered. Oh, sweetheart. Derek. My
216. 9:00voice was sandpaper. Arrested at
217. 9:02Richard's house 8 hours ago. He's in
218. 9:05jail. She gripped my hand. I'm so sorry.
219. 9:08I should have seen, should have known he
220. 9:10was capable of. Not your fault, but it
221. 9:12was someone's fault. Derek's, obviously.
222. 9:15Richard's for raising a son who thought
223. 9:18he was entitled to other people's money.
224. 9:20Maybe mine for not taking the threats
225. 9:22seriously enough. Dr. Kowalski appeared,
226. 9:26flanked by two other surgeons.
227. 9:28The surgery went well technically. We
228. 9:31decompressed the cord, stabilized the
229. 9:33fracture with hardware, but the MRI
230. 9:35shows significant cord damage at T7.
231. 9:38There's been a complete cord injury,
232. 9:41meaning meaning paralysis from mid-chest
233. 9:43down is permanent. I'm very sorry. The
234. 9:46words settled over me like concrete.
235. 9:48Permanent, paralysis, forever. Mom made
236. 9:52a sound like something breaking. Over
237. 9:54the next week, 16 different
238. 9:56neurosurgeons reviewed my case. St.
239. 9:59Catherine's was a teaching hospital and
240. 10:01my injury combined with the criminal
241. 10:03circumstances made it a significant case
242. 10:06study. Each surgeon documented the same
243. 10:08findings in their reports. Complete
244. 10:10spinal cord injury at T7. Mechanism,
245. 10:14high velocity blunt force trauma
246. 10:17consistent with multi-story fall.
247. 10:19Pattern of injury matches patient's
248. 10:21account of assault. Prognosis, permanent
249. 10:24paralysis below T7 dermatome. Patient
250. 10:27will require lifetime wheelchair use and
251. 10:30extensive rehabilitation. 16 sworn
252. 10:33medical professionals, 16 expert
253. 10:35opinions, all agreeing on cause,
254. 10:38mechanism, and outcome. The prosecutor,
255. 10:41Assistant DA Jennifer Wong, visited on
256. 10:44day nine. She sat beside my bed, case
257. 10:47file thick in her lap. "Mr. Morrison, I
258. 10:50want to be very clear about what we
259. 10:52have. 12 security cameras captured your
260. 10:54stepbrother's actions. We have him
261. 10:57following you, tearing down safety tape,
262. 10:59waiting for you, and pushing you. We
263. 11:01recovered his phone. He'd been Googling
264. 11:04elevator accidents and inheriting if
265. 11:07heir dies for 3 weeks. We have text
266. 11:09messages where he demanded money and we
267. 11:12have 16 neurosurgeons willing to testify
268. 11:15about your injuries." She paused. "This
269. 11:17is the most documented attempted murder
270. 11:19case I've handled in 15 years. Derek
271. 11:22Morrison is going to prison for a very
272. 11:24long time." "Good," I said. My voice
273. 11:27surprised me, flat, emotionless. Shock,
274. 11:31probably, or maybe the pain medication.
275. 11:34There's something else. Wong's
276. 11:36expression shifted. Your stepbrother was
277. 11:38texting someone during the time he was
278. 11:40waiting for you. We pulled the phone
279. 11:43records. He was texting his father, your
280. 11:45stepfather Richard. My chest tightened.
281. 11:48What did they say? Quote, he's here,
282. 11:51about to sign the papers. If this works,
283. 11:54we split it 50/50. Richard replied, make
284. 11:57sure there are no witnesses. The room
285. 11:59spun. Richard knew, I whispered. Richard
286. 12:02may have helped plan it. We're
287. 12:04investigating him as an accessory. If we
288. 12:07can prove he knew about the plan
289. 12:09beforehand, he'll face charges, too.
290. 12:11Derek's arraignment happened while I was
291. 12:13still in the ICU. Mom showed me the news
292. 12:16coverage on her phone. Derek in an
293. 12:18orange jumpsuit, shackled, being led
294. 12:20into court. Bail set at $5 million.
295. 12:24He couldn't make it. The irony wasn't
296. 12:26lost on anyone. He tried to steal $6.8
297. 12:29million and ended up and ended up unable
298. 12:32to afford $500,000
299. 12:34to bond out. Richard tried to visit
300. 12:36once. Hospital security stopped him at
301. 12:39the entrance. Mom had filed a
302. 12:41restraining order against both Richard
303. 12:43and Derek. She'd also filed for divorce.
304. 12:46I brought him into our lives, Mom said,
305. 12:49voice breaking. I let his son live with
306. 12:52you. This is my fault. It's Derek's
307. 12:54fault, I said firmly. And Richard's, not
308. 12:57yours. But I could see she didn't
309. 13:00believe me. Physical therapy started in
310. 13:02week three. Learning to transfer from
311. 13:04bed to wheelchair. Learning to dress
312. 13:06myself with useless legs. Learning to
313. 13:09catheterize myself because my bladder no
314. 13:11longer worked properly. Learning to live
315. 13:14in a body that ended at my chest. The
316. 13:16occupational therapist, Marcus, was
317. 13:19relentlessly positive. You're young,
318. 13:22smart, and you've got resources. You'll
319. 13:24adapt faster than you think. Resources,
320. 13:28right. The trust fund. Patterson and
321. 13:30Associates had finally transferred
322. 13:32access during my second week in the
323. 13:34hospital. The $6.8 million
324. 13:38Derek had tried to murder me for now sat
325. 13:40in my account, ready to pay for custom
326. 13:42wheelchairs, accessible vehicles, home
327. 13:45modifications, and decades of medical
328. 13:48care. Everything Derek wanted now paying
329. 13:51for everything Derek caused. The trial
330. 13:53started 11 months later. I rolled into
331. 13:56the courtroom in a carbon fiber
332. 13:58wheelchair, $38,000,
333. 14:00paid for by Dad's trust fund, wearing a
334. 14:03suit tailored to fit someone who sits
335. 14:05permanently. Derek looked smaller
336. 14:07somehow. Jail had aged him. His public
337. 14:10defender looked exhausted. The
338. 14:12prosecutor's opening statement was
339. 14:14devastating. Ladies and gentlemen, the
340. 14:17defendant pushed his stepbrother down an
341. 14:19elevator shaft to steal a $6.8 million
342. 14:23trust fund. We have video footage. We
343. 14:26have text messages. We have internet
344. 14:28search history showing premeditation.
345. 14:31And we have 16 neurosurgeons who will
346. 14:33testify that the victim will never walk
347. 14:35again because of the defendant's greed.
348. 14:38The trial lasted 6 days. 12 security
349. 14:41camera angles played in sequence showing
350. 14:44Derek following me, tearing down caution
351. 14:46tape, waiting then pushing. His deleted
352. 14:49internet searches were recovered and
353. 14:51displayed. How to make a fall look
354. 14:53accidental. Spinal injuries from fall.
355. 14:56>> Elevator shaft death.
356. 14:58>> Eight of the 16 neurosurgeons testified,
357. 15:01each one describing my MRI scans in
358. 15:04clinical detail, pointing to the severed
359. 15:06spinal cord on the projected images.
360. 15:09Derek's defense was that it was an
361. 15:11accident, that he'd reached out to
362. 15:13steady me and accidentally pushed me
363. 15:15instead. The jury deliberated for 90
364. 15:18minutes. Guilty on all counts.
365. 15:20Sentencing happened 3 weeks later. Judge
366. 15:23Patricia Morrison, no relation to Derek,
367. 15:26ironically read the verdict with barely
368. 15:28contained fury. "Mr. Morrison, you
369. 15:31pushed your stepbrother down an elevator
370. 15:33shaft because you wanted his
371. 15:35inheritance. You planned it. You Googled
372. 15:38it. You waited for the perfect moment,
373. 15:40and now a young man will spend his
374. 15:42entire life in a wheelchair because of
375. 15:45your greed." She paused. "This court
376. 15:47sentences you to 25 years to life in
377. 15:50state prison." Derek's mother sobbed in
378. 15:53the gallery. Richard sat beside her,
379. 15:55staring at nothing. He'd been charged as
380. 15:58an accessory but taken a plea deal. 5
381. 16:00years in exchange for testimony about
382. 16:03Derek's planning. Both of them would be
383. 16:05in prison. Both of them had destroyed
384. 16:07their lives trying to steal mine. I
385. 16:10rolled out of the courtroom into autumn
386. 16:11sunlight. Mom walked beside me, her hand
387. 16:15on my shoulder. "It's over," she said.
388. 16:18But it wasn't over. It would never be
389. 16:20over. Every morning I'd wake up unable
390. 16:23to feel my legs. Every day I'd transfer
391. 16:25from bed to wheelchair to car to
392. 16:28wheelchair again. Every night I'd lie in
393. 16:30bed remembering the sensation of walking
394. 16:33that was now just a memory. Derek got 25
395. 16:36years. I got forever, but at least I got
396. 16:39to live it.