ORRINGTON – Parents of a Center Drive School pupil reportedly injured during an ambulance service demonstration in 2002 have filed a lawsuit against the town, its volunteer ambulance service, Center Drive Elementary School and Union 91.

Orrington residents Kevin and Carrie Harvey are asking for unspecified damages, according to the lawsuit filed last month in Penobscot County Superior Court.

The Orrington Volunteer Ambulance Service and the town have denied all claims, according to court documents.

Portland attorney Edward Benjamin, who is representing all of the defendants in the case, also has been granted an extension to the 30-day response deadline to allow the school and the school union to issue their response.

Both parties have requested a jury trial.

The girl’s parents have retained Ken Hovermale, a Portland malpractice attorney, to represent them. Repeated efforts to reach Hovermale for comment on the matter were unsuccessful.

According to the lawsuit filed on March 7, the parents claim that their daughter, Cassie Harvey, then 7 years old, was harmed when she was dropped on her head while participating in an ambulance service demonstration on May 22, 2002, at the school.

The ambulance crew was demonstrating how to strap a patient onto a backboard and turn it over and had asked for volunteers from the student body, according to the court documents.

Cassie Harvey volunteered.

“As she was being turned over on the backboard, it was dropped by the members of the ambulance service and Cassie fell on her head causing severe personal injuries,” the parents’ complaint states.

As a result of the injury, the child now has permanent neuropsychological issues, according to the plaintiffs.

“Cassie has suffered and will suffer severe emotional and physical pain, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent impairment and other damages,” the court document states.

The complaint does not give specifics as to what the neuropsychological issues are.

The suit claims that the four defendants were negligent for allowing the demonstration, for allowing pupils to volunteer for “a potentially dangerous activity” and for the careless handling of the backboard and Cassie Harvey.

In response, the ambulance service and town have denied the allegations.

The town and ambulance service responded “that any damage the plaintiffs may have suffered were the result of the negligence of the plaintiffs, whose negligence was equal to or greater than that of the defendants.”

Several months after the incident, when the town submitted a claim to its insurer regarding the incident, local officials learned that while the ambulance itself and its garage are covered by the town’s liability policy, the coverage did not extend to the ambulance crew.

The ambulance service is a private, nonprofit volunteer organization and is not a municipal department, and therefore, was not covered under the town’s Maine Municipal Association insurance.

The MMA agreed at that time to cover the claim submitted by the town, but insurance officials deemed the ambulance service ineligible for coverage.

On Nov. 1, 2002, the ambulance service acquired its own insurance.