Kendall Madison Case: Mother Sues Attacker

Kendall Madison's mother has filed a civil lawsuit against the man who stabbed her 21-year-old son, a popular student-athlete at East Hampton High School and the University of Connecticut.

Sharon Bacon has sued Willie Davender of Mattituck, who was sentenced in October 1995 to a prison term of one-and-a-third to four years, after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide. In court that day, Ms. Bacon criticized the penalty as too lenient.

Mr. Madison died at Southampton Hospital nine days after the Jan. 14, 1995, stabbing in the parking lot of the former Kristie's nightclub in East Hampton. His unexpected death, the result of a blood clot, came as he was about to be released from the hospital.

More Suits To Follow

Ms. Bacon, the president of the East Hampton School Board, charged that Mr. Davender committed an intentional assault. She is asking the State Supreme Court to award $5 million in damages. Her suit does not allege that Mr. Davender was responsible for her son's death.

Her lawyer, Stephen A. Grossman of Sag Harbor, has indicated the suit would be followed by another against the hospital, and Ms. Bacon said she intends to sue the nightclub and its owners as well.

Mr. Grossman confirmed this week that the civil suit had been filed, but said it was "on hold until [Mr. Davender] gets out of prison."

Community Grief

Mr. Madison's death stunned the community. A memorial service held at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church drew an extraordinary number of mourners, including football teammates from the University of Connecticut coaches.

A three-sport star in football, basketball, and track at East Hampton High School, Mr. Madison was also active in the black community and with youth groups. He had put together a dance at Kristie's while on the winter break of his senior year of college.

Things turned ugly later that night, county homicide detectives said. A scuffle inside the club started up again in the parking lot. In a group of perhaps two dozen people, Mr. Davender stabbed Mr. Madison, who was unaware of the wound until he went back inside and a friend spotted blood.

As it turned out, the blade had pierced a kidney.

Detectives at first charged a Riverhead man, James Riddick, with the crime, but withdrew that accusation five days later, after additional witnesses allegedly came forward.

Hospital's Role

In June 1995, Mr. Grossman said Mr. Madison's family was targeting Southampton Hospital, questioning whether the treatment given the young man contributed to his death.

"The manner in which he died raises serious questions," Mr. Grossman said.

Mr. Madison had been on the way to recovery but died less than a day after he was removed from the intensive care unit - and a day after hospital officials told family members he might be released within a day or two, they said.

A blood clot that had formed in his leg moved into a lung, said Dr. John J. Ferry, the president of the hospital.

The cause of death was listed as pulmonary thromboembolism. Dr. Ferry said then that the hospital had tended to the young man properly but that "unfortunately, complications can occur at any time."

Mr. Grossman said medical professionals must review the case as a prelude to any malpractice suit, and that the process had begun.

Steven Losquadro of Smithtown, Mr. Davender's attorney, also questioned the hospital's role, and, according to sources, used the information that Mr. Madison was recovering to work out a more favorable plea and sentencing for his client.

Scholarship Fund Growing

A scholarship fund for Mr. Madison, administered by the Community Trust in Manhattan, was established soon after his death, with his mother, Peter Goodson, the Rev. Carlyle Turner, Chris Hatch, Debra Lobel, an attorney, the high school's athletic director, and the East Hampton Community Council's president as members of the fund's commission.

Ms. Bacon said this week that the fund, whose original goal was $25,000, has grown to more than $35,000.

John Griesmer, a freshman at the University of Rochester, and Nicole Messinger, a freshman at Duke University, were the fund's first recipients, at East Hampton High School's athletic awards dinner last June. Each received $1,200.

The Madison scholarship is a mentoring one, charging recipients with the responsibility of working with those East Hampton, Bridgehampton, and Pierson high school sophomore applicants who come after them.

"The goal," Mr. Goodson said, when the fund was set up in March, "is to establish a network of training, assistance, and coaching to develop the best of everyone touched by this process."

Applicants are required to play two sports, to be conscientious students, and to be active in community service, as the late Mr. Madison was.