Fla. woman thrown from wheelchair when Southwest staffers refused to push her is now paralyzed: suit

(Source: New York Post)

A disabled Florida woman claims Southwest Airlines staffers refused to aid her in going down a jet bridge in a wheelchair — and that she suffered catastrophic injuries after falling over, court papers state.

The Broward County suit asserts that Gaby Assouline, 24, who suffers from a muscle disease, was traveling from South Florida to Denver in February when she asked for someone to push her wheelchair down the corridor.

The suit contends that a Southwest supervisor at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport declined her request and that she was forced to negotiate the jet bridge on her own.