IT WAS JUST TOO TIGHT A FIT

The poor gravediggers were just doing their job, not dancing on the deceased’s oversized casket.

FAMILY SUES AFTER GRAVE DIGGERS ‘JUMPED ON 91-YEAR-OLD’S CASKET TO SQUEEZE IT INTO A HOLE THAT WAS TOO SMALL’
By Rick Dewsbury

Mail Online
November 29, 2011

Gravediggers jumped up and down on the coffin of an elderly woman to force it into a tight hole as her family looked on in horror, it has been claimed.

The workers at a Roman Catholic cemetery near Pittsburgh are also accused of poking the coffin with poles.

They are alleged to have carried jumped on 91-year-old Agnes Zimmick's coffin after her funeral of on December 1, 2009.

Mr Zimmick's family are now suing the Pittsburgh diocese and its Catholic Cemeteries Association.

Mrs Zimmic's son, Theodore Zimmick, his daughter Lisa Carey, and granddaughter, Shannon Soxman complained after seeing 'jumps and shoves' on the coffin.

'Frankly, it's shocking this happened at a Catholic cemetery,' the family's lawyer, Richard Sandow told the the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

'You're not dealing with lumber. You're dealing with the deceased. There were many jumps, shoves and stomps.'

Mrs Zimmick's body was taken to the cemetery on December 1 after a Mass of Christian Burial which had been attended by the family.

After the funeral service, the family said they went to visit the graves of other family members, and then saw workers stamping and walking on the coffin and otherwise jamming it into the grave.

Annabelle McGannon, executive director of the US cemeteries association, says the family's claims have been investigated and are 'unfounded.'

She said: 'The family filed a complaint and we investigated it thoroughly. We are confident after our investigation that the allegations are unfounded.

'Beyond that, it's our policy not to comment on issues in litigation.'

The 14-page lawsuit was filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. The family are seeking compensation for emotional distress and 'tortious interference with dead bodies.'

Mr Sandow said the family do not want other grieving relatives to go through the same experience.

'No member of the church was supervising the burial. It's disappointing,' Sandow said. 'Her body is supposed to be handled appropriately.'