Lauren Abraham, 23, was a makeup artist and aspiring teacher when she died after she was electrocuted outside her Richmond Hill home during Hurricane Sandy. Facebook
The family of a young Richmond Hill woman who died after being electrocuted outside her house during Hurricane Sandy has filed a lawsuit against Con Edison, saying the 23-year-old burned to death because of the company’s alleged negligence.
Lauren Abraham was killed Oct. 29 after stepping into a puddle and coming into contact with a severed electrical wire – after which she caught fire and screamed in pain in front of horrified neighbors and friends who could do nothing because of the live wire, according to the suit. The lawsuit stated that Abraham, a makeup artist who worked for several professional companies and an aspiring teacher, burned for about half an hour before emergency workers arrived at the scene.
According to the suit, which seeks unspecified damages, Abraham would not have died had Con Edison turned off the power and maintained the wires.
“The electrical voltage of the line horrifyingly caused Ms. Abraham to burst into flames,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. Abraham, beloved by everyone who met her, then burned alive, writing and screaming while her neighbors and friends looked on, unable to help because the power line was still live.”
According to the suit and other published reports, Abraham had gone outside around 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 to take photos and video of the storm that devastated much of New York City.
Her mother had been working a double shift at the Jewish Home for the Elderly in Connecticut when Abraham’s boyfriend called her the day after the storm to ask if her daughter had really died. It was the first she had heard of the end of her child’s life.
Abraham, known as Lola to friends and family, had been attending beauty school, as well as studying at Lehman College to become a social studies teacher. She was a graduate of Martin Van Buren High School.
On a Facebook memorial page dedicated to Abraham, friends remembered the woman as a “beautiful and passionate young makeup artist.
“She touched the lives of everyone she came in contact with and will forever be in our hearts,” the statement goes on to read.
On the same memorial page, friends called Abraham a “stunning and gifted makeup artist” who was “adventurous, funny, loving, compassionate and fiercely loyal.
“She was a beloved daughter, a sister, an aunt, a true friend and love,” the memorial page says.
By Anna Gustafson
