Keisha Heard and Cheryl Reichert's trip to the Dallas Zoo on March 18, 2004, was supposed to resemble a Disney movie. Instead, it degenerated into something right out of a Stephen King horror story.
Jabari, a 300-pound gorilla, escaped from his enclosure and went on an angry rampage through the zoo. Police shot and killed him on the zoo grounds, but not before he seriously injured Reichert, Heard and 3-year-old Rivers Heard.
Jabari put Rivers' head in his mouth and slung him around. Later, he sank his fangs in Keisha Heard's leg and dangled her upside down after she tried to protect her son. Jabari bit Reichert several times and slammed her against a wall, causing recurring back problems.
"I thought he wanted to kill us," Heard said. "He was so angry and upset."
The Dallas City Council, which oversees the zoo, is scheduled to approve a $500,000 financial settlement with Heard and Reichert during a special meeting Friday at City Hall. The money is meant to compensate the women and their children for their physical injuries and emotional trauma.
The two women did not know each other before Jabari randomly selected them for attack. Heard was visiting the zoo with her neice, Rivers and his older brother. Reichert brought along her three children.
Heard and Reichert say their zoo trip really never ended - the sights, sounds, smells and images still linger in their minds and have left them with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Earlier this week, the two moms sat in a Dallas courtroom and watched State District Judge Craig Smith put the finishing touches on their settlement with the city of Dallas. State law caps civil damage awards against a city government at $500,000.
So, Judge Smith had to oversee a process to allocate the money between Reichert, her three children, Heard, her two children and a neice.
When the hearing was over, Judge Smith had approved the following allocation: Heard, $120,000; Reichert, $120,000; Rivers Heard, $200,000 and $12,000 for each of the other five children.
