The family filed a lawsuit against the Kendall County Fair Association. What the family wants is accountability.
SAN ANTONIO — It’s been more than five months since the bleacher collapse at the Kendall County Fair that injured 11 and resulted in one death. The family of 79-year-old Vera Smith says the last several months with her have been difficult.
Vera’s son Dwayne says his mother was known for her friendly nature.
“She was a good Christian lady,” he said. “She was a grandmother, a great grandmother. She was queen of the fishermen.”
The family says Vera died just five days following the collapse.
“It’s been traumatizing, it really has,” Dwayne said. “An open investigation that has needed to be closed. I mean should’ve been an open and closed book.”
The family filed a lawsuit against the Kendall County Fair Association and they want answers. Dwayne’s brother Forrest echoes his concerns.
“A long time ago, the city came forward and said right away after this accident they want to do a complete investigation,” Forrest said. “And here we are five and a half months into it. And it seems almost like a cover up. They’re not releasing any information as far as what their engineers have found. No answer from the DA. It’s almost like they’re shoving it under the table.”
The City of Boerne confirmed back in September, the organization did not apply for a building permit and they were welding up until the day before the event.
Luca Ghiotto – married to Vera’s granddaughter says he pulled Vera out from underneath the bleachers.
“It’s tragic for any of those who were near this when it happened,” Ghiotto said. “We just want to make sure that there’s change with the fair association, and that there’s no chance that something like this can happen again.”
We reached out to the Kendall County Fair Association to see if there are any updates to the status of the bleacher that collapsed. We did not hear back.