It Wasn't Cop's Fault She Fell Off the Dugout

Heading to the high school football game. It's a Thanksgiving Day tradition. Jumping from the dugout roof ? That shouldn't be part of that tradition.

It took jurors in New London Superior Court just 25 minutes to decide that a Stonington police officer isn't to blame for what happened after he told a Westerly High School student to get off the dugout roof. 

According to court records, Officer Mario Ritacco told Dana Dragon, 17, to get off a dugout roof during the 2005 Thanksgiving Day football game between Stonington and Westerly. 

She jumped from the roof and fractured her ankle in several places. Since then, she's had two surgeries and might need a third with her medical bills already costing more than $46,000. 

She was reportedly forced to spend part of her senior year in a wheelchair.

Ritacco said he assumed that since she used a ladder to get to the roof, she'd use the same ladder to climb down. 

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