DoD to Pay Brit Soldiers Hurt in Crash

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DoD to Pay Brit Soldiers Hurt in Crash
Military.com | November 05, 2007

The Defense Department has agreed to pay more than $600,000 in compensation to British troops injured in Iraq three years ago in a collision three years ago between their vehicle and a U.S. tank, the British newspaper The Observer is reporting.

A Pentagon spokeswoman contacted by Military.com was not able to confirm the report, saying she was unfamiliar with the Observer story.

The three British soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter sued the Defense Department for about $2.3 million after the May 2004 incident. The coalition soldiers belonged to a Royal Military Police unit and were traveling in a Land Rover when the vehicle was struck twice from behind by the American tank, according to The Observer.

The Land Rover spun out of control and went off the road, with the three soldiers, Staff Sgt. James Rogerson, Cpl. Jane McLauchlan and Cpl. Steven Smith, and interpreter Khalid Allahou, thrown from the vehicle, the paper reported.

It is not unusual for the U.S. military to offer compensation to civilian accident victims or their families.

But lawyers for the three British troops say the decision to pay compensation to the soldiers is a “landmark decision” that may be the first of more payouts to British service members accidentally injured by American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,155472,00.html?wh=wh