Jury gives $12.5M for girl's ambulance molestation

DETROIT (AP) -- A Wayne County jury has made a $12.5 million award in the case of a 14-year-old girl who was molested while restrained in a strait jacket for an ambulance ride between two hospitals in 2006. The jury Wednesday found attendant Matt DeFillippo 70 percent responsible and Superior Ambulance 30 percent responsible. The then-35-year-old St. Clair Shores man was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison for third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was paroled in 2009. The ambulance was taking the girl from Harbor Oaks Hospital in Brownstown Township to Harbor Oaks Hospital in New Baltimore in July 2006. Defense lawyer Summer Heil says the Roseville-based company turned DeFillippo in to police. Heil says what happened to the girl is "reprehensible" but says it isn't Superior's fault. Published: Fri, May 13, 2011