Utah pays damages to UVU student who lost leg in accident

The state will pay nearly $650,000 to a college student who lost his leg when his motorcycle was hit by a maintenance vehicle at Utah Valley University last year.

Parker Eads was riding his motorcycle across the UVU campus in September 2011 when the maintenance truck driver made an improper turn, striking Eads and throwing him under another car.

After a series of surgeries, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee.

"Parker is a guy that nothing gets him down. He just takes things one day at a time, and he just overcomes whatever is thrown at him," said his attorney, Russell Hymas.

The $648,700 settlement, the maximum under Utah's liability caps, will cover Eads hospital bills, but he will have expenses down the road for various prosthetics.

"[He] is a twenty-something-year-old guy who is still an undergraduate and has a life ahead of him of prosthetics that are going to have to be replaced every three to five years," Hymas said. Special prosthetics will be needed "if he wants to get back into the things he loves, things like snowboarding and hiking and rock climbing."

Under state law, legislative leaders have to approve a settlement greater than $500,000. The vote to approve the payment to Eads was unanimous.

Robert Gehrke