August 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 28

LAW REVIEW
closed to sledding was accompanied
by less-than-ideal communication
about the City's no sledding
or restricted sledding policy for the
Hill. Following the 2015 decision,
the City's fall and winter recreational
brochure deleted references
to sledding on the Hill. The parks
and recreation department did not
publish any notice about the closure
on its Facebook page.
A community newspaper, the
Brookings Register, published the decision
and included this quote from
the city manager: " We are closing
the one side of the hill facing the
street. We are not going to close
the other side. We're doing this
for liability and safety reasons. "
KDLT news also interviewed the
city manager and did a news report
on the closure, during which the
city manager explained that while
the east side of the Hill was closed,
sledders were welcome to sled on
the other sides of the Hill.
In the fall of 2015, the City
placed a no sledding sign on the
east side of the Hill, but citizens
routinely took down such signs. As
a temporary deterrent, the City installed
a fence in the middle of the
east slope of the Hill, but sledders
packed snow " ramps " up to the
fence after heavy snow and sledded
over it.
The City did not have an official
policy for monitoring and maintaining
sledding conditions on the
Hill. During the 2015 and 2016
winter
seasons,
city
employees
would, however, periodically check
the east side of the Hill and remove
these snow " ramps. "
The City removed the fence
sometime around the summer of
2016 and planted trees on the east
side of the Hill to permanently deter
sledders. After the trees were
planted, the public continued sledding
on the other sides of the Hill.
The City placed a no sledding sign
on the east side of Hill in the fall of
2016, 2017 and 2018.
Although the parks and recreation
department had stopped advertising
the Hill as a sledding hill
in 2015, South Dakota State University
continued to publish materials
describing the Hill as a sledding
hill. The City's visitor's bureau also
advertised the Hill as a sledding hill
from 2017 to 2021. Internet searches
suggest that the Hill remains a
popular place for sledding.
Drainage Ditch
Sledding Injury
Plaintiff Storm was injured on November
17, 2018, when he and his
wife, Deidre, were visiting her parents
in Brookings for Thanksgiving
with their two young daughters.
Storm had been raised in Sioux
Falls and Deidre had been raised
in Brookings, but they live in Texas.
Storm's daughters, Ellie and
Mia, had never been sledding; and
Storm and his daughters, along with
Storm's brother-in-law, Kevin, and
Kevin's daughter, Riley, decided to
go sledding and parked on the south
side of the Hill in Larson Park.
Storm believed that the Hill was
open to sledding, and the Hill did
not have any " no sledding " signs
on its south side. A no sledding
sign had been posted on the east
side of the Hill that year, but it had
been taken down before Storm was
injured. The City had not posted
any no sledding sign on the south
side of the Hill.
At the time, there was light snow
on the ground, but the outline of
the concrete drainage ditch and
28 Parks & Recreation | A UGUS T 2 0 22 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
grass nearby were visible. Storm
admitted he must have crossed the
drainage ditch to walk to the top of
the Hill, but he did not remember
doing so.
Ellie, Mia, Riley and Kevin sledded
down the south side of the Hill
first, while Storm recorded them
on his cellphone. Kevin and Riley
sledded down the Hill and crossed
the drainage ditch. Kevin stated
that he felt a little bump when he
went over the ditch but suffered no
injuries. Kevin was not aware that
the ditch was made of concrete,
and Storm's footage showed Kevin's
footprints in the ditch over the
snow. Ellie sledded down the Hill
and stopped before reaching the
drainage ditch. Mia also sledded
down the Hill without injury.
Storm then sledded down the Hill
with Ellie in his lap. When Storm
reached the bottom of the Hill and
went over the drainage ditch, he
" caught air " and came down on his
tailbone at the far side of the ditch.
Storm stated that it " felt like a grenade
had gone off in his back. " He
was in immediate and severe pain
and was taken to the emergency
room in Brookings before being
transported by ambulance to Sioux
Falls. Storm had shattered a vertebra,
which required multiple surgeries.
After Storm was injured, no
sledding signs were posted on all
sides of the Hill.
Storm suffers from pain and disability
due to his injury. He used to
be very active, but now cannot do
many of the physical activities he
used to enjoy without experiencing
severe pain. He also has difficulty
getting more than three or four
hours of uninterrupted sleep and
cannot do basic household tasks
without pain.
August 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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