Helicopter Crash Survivor Gives $250,000 to Trauma Center
By Niesha Lofing - The Sacramento Bee - Tuesday August 26, 2008
SACRAMENTO - A Sacramento County sheriff's deputy who survived a helicopter crash that killed two of his fellow deputies gave $250,000 to Mercy San Juan Trauma Center today.
Eric Henrikson, 31, credits the facility for saving his life after the July 13, 2005 crash that killed fellow deputies Joseph Kievernagel, 36, and Kevin Blount, 29, when the helicopter slammed into a hillside and rolled down a ravine. The deputies were responding to a burglary call in Folsom.
Henrikson announced the donation at 10:30 a.m. alongside his mother, Dee Wilkerson, Mercy San Juan President Brian Ivie and other hospital administration and the surgeons who helped save his life, said Bryan Gardner, a Mercy spokesman.
Henrikson asked that some of the funds be committed to specialized education for trauma nurses, with the remainder to benefit trauma areas with the greatest need.
"What they did for me was a miracle," Henrikson said in a written statement. "I know how committed the people at Mercy San Juan are to the Trauma Center and that they have an excellent program. But if something I can do can make it even a little better, then I want to be there for them the way they were there for me."
Last month, Henrikson and families of the deputies who were killed settled their civil suit against the company that manufactured the helicopter's engine.
Turbomeca, a French manufacturer, was accused in the suit of supplying a defective part that reportedly caused the helicopter crash. The suit alleged that the company knew of the mechanical problem - a diaphragm in the engine's fuel control unit that had been installed incorrectly - but did not warn people flying the aircraft.
Sacramento County also filed suit against the company. That lawsuit is pending.
