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Stage collapse victims thank IU Health staff on 5-year anniversary

Posted at 6:21 PM, Aug 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-13 18:56:00-04

INDIANAPOLIS - A mother and daughter who were injured in the 2011 State Fair stage collapse returned to Indianapolis Friday to thank the doctors and nurses who treated them.

Jill and Jaymie Polet were among the nearly 100 people hurt when a stage buckled and then collapse during a severe thunderstorm before a Sugarland concert. Seven people ultimately died from injuries sustained in the collapse.

On Friday – one day before the five-year anniversary of the collapse – the Polets returned to Indianapolis with hospital-themed cookies for the trauma staff at IU Health Methodist Hospital, where they and many others hurt in the collapse were treated.

In particular, the Polets visited with Dr. Tim Pohlman and IU Health Trauma Director Missy Hockaday, who treated them on the night of the collapse.

Click the image below to see more photos from the emotional reunion:


A $39 million settlement was reached for 19 of the 20 defendants in the case in December 2014.

In January, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the state was not liable to pay damages incurred by a company that provided the stage rigging that collapsed.

That same month, the state said it had already paid out $11 million to victims of the collapse, including $5 million under the state's liability cap and $6 million in public funds freed up by the General Assembly.