Legal Filing Claims WAPA Cut Power to Elderly Oxygen-Dependent Woman Despite Medical Exemption on File
A new filing in the proposed class action lawsuit against the V.I. Water and Power Authority over defective smart meters alleges that WAPA has once again disconnected power to an elderly resident in poor health.
2025-02-11 13:08:32 - VI News Staff
The motion, asking the court for a ruling on several pending motions, tells the story of Kathy Easterday, an octogenarian who relies on oxygen and a nebulizer. Her power went out at 3 p.m. on January 27. “At first, Mrs. Easterday thought it was a rolling blackout,” the motion says. By 6 p.m., Mrs. Easterday was in a panic because the power still had not returned. According to the motion, she “knew she didn't have much time to get help because she could not breathe.” Because the top floor of her home had been damaged in the 2017 hurricanes, Mrs. Easterday now confined herself to the lowest level of the house. The 82-year-old, 97-pound woman “was forced to crawl up 33 steps to the road for help,” the filing claims. In the rain and the dark, she waited until someone called an ambulance. “Mrs. Easterday could have easily died on those steps or been hit by a car,” the filing says.
Eventually, the motion says, a kind neighbor made some calls and reportedly determined that WAPA had disconnected Mrs. Easterday's power, notwithstanding the medical letter apparently on file. Further, it was discovered that the individuals who removed the meter from her home had damaged the base to such an extent that it would have to be replaced.
According to the filed motion, WAPA CEO Karl Knight was informed of Mrs. Easterday’s situation on the ninth day of her disconnection. He allegedly acknowledged that the elderly woman should not have been disconnected but chose to defer to the individual who, according to the motion, knowingly authorized the disconnection of a meter belonging to a woman dependent on electrical medical equipment for survival.