Woman Remembers Thinking ‘I Don’t Want to Die’ When 600-Lb. Structure Allegedly Flew into Her During Run. Now She’s Suing

Katie Watt still can’t fully pinpoint the moment an airborne bench shelter struck her while she was running at Bates College.

She remembers the aftermath more clearly: confusion, fear, and pain — and the thought that she might not survive.

Watt, now 22, alleges the incident happened in October 2024 and left her with a skull fracture and bleeding in multiple areas of her brain, according to a complaint filed against the liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine.

At the time, Watt was a senior and captain of the school’s Nordic ski team. She says she’s still adjusting to what she describes as a life with reduced cognitive stamina.

“I was a very busy person,” she says. “I loved to fill my days with things that I found productive or brought me joy.”

Now, she says, she wakes up with a fixed amount of mental energy she can spend before she has to stop.

What the lawsuit alleges

In the complaint filed Tuesday, Dec. 16, in Androscoggin County Superior Court, Watt alleges that Bates College had two 18-foot-long, 597-pound Kwik Goal bench shelters at the school’s outdoor Russell Street Track and Field Complex.

The complaint says the manufacturer’s instructions state the shelters “must be anchored at all times” and should be stored in a “secure, sheltered area” during high winds — but Watt alleges the shelters were left “entirely unsecured.”

According to the complaint, strong winds had already blown one of the shelters across the field to the opposite end of the track before Watt went for a run on the morning of Oct. 12, 2024.

About an hour later, the complaint alleges, Watt arrived at the field with teammates and coaches for a running test. At approximately 9:41 a.m., the shelter that had been blown across the field earlier allegedly became airborne, struck Watt as she ran, and pinned her to the ground.

She alleges she was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center, then transferred by air to Maine Medical Center for emergency neurological care.

Watt says her memories immediately afterward are fragmented and jumbled — more emotion than sequence — and dominated by fear and uncertainty about what was happening.

Ongoing symptoms and recovery

The complaint alleges Watt suffered a traumatic brain injury and that, as a result, she “has suffered cognitive impairment, emotional disturbance, headaches, and neurological deficits, and continues to experience life-changing symptoms.”

Watt says she spent the first month of recovery at home while under a neurosurgeon’s care, and that her parents took time off from their teaching jobs to support her.

Walking was difficult at first, she says, largely because of balance issues, and she gradually worked her way up to walking a mile over the first couple of months.

In January, she returned to classes at Bates — a decision she describes as one of the hardest parts of the entire ordeal. She says she used accommodations such as a note taker and the ability to record lectures, and believes she wouldn’t have been able to finish the semester without a careful plan.

She graduated in May, but says the experience was emotionally complicated — and physically painful. Even wearing a graduation cap, she says, was difficult because of lingering nerve sensitivity after the skull fracture.

Communication with the school

Watt also alleges she never received an apology from the school.

She says the message she heard most often was that staff didn’t witness the incident and didn’t know what happened — and she felt dismissed at a time when she expected support.

Bates College response

In a statement provided Wednesday, Dec. 17, a spokesperson for Bates College said the school does not comment on pending litigation.

The spokesperson added that the college “acknowledge[s] that this unfortunate accident happened on our campus in October 2024,” and said Bates provided support at the time and afterward. The statement also said the school was pleased Watt returned to her studies and graduated with honors in May 2025, and that the college continues to wish her well in her research role at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Why she filed

Watt says she’s hopeful about what comes next, but worries she may never regain the stamina she once had. She says her goal in filing the lawsuit is to push for stronger safety measures so that other students don’t face something similar.