Witnesses tell jury they saw attack on woman at Disney ride

Ride operator says he didn't see the altercation.

Helen Eckinger | Sentinel Staff Writer

2:22 PM EDT, April 9, 2008

BULLETIN: The prosecution just rested without calling Aimee Krause's children to the stand.

This morning, two more witnesses told a jury that they saw Victoria Walker attack a Clermont housewife at Disney World last year.

Lori Tamplin and her daughter Darby, 10, of Louisiana, both testified that they saw Walker grab Aimee Krause by the hair and repeatedly hit her head at Disney's Mad Tea Party ride last year.

But, when prosecutors called Xavier Cruz, who was operating the ride the night the incident took place, to the stand, Cruz testified that he didn't see any of the altercation.

A mother and daughter testified Tuesday that they saw an Alabama woman pummel a Lake County mother last May as she stood in line for the Mad Tea Party ride at Walt Disney World.

Victoria Mauger, 12, of Jacksonville told jurors that Victoria Walker, on trial in Orange Circuit Court, pushed her way to the front of the line and argued with Aimee Krause of Clermont. A Disney worker separated the two. But a few minutes later, as Victoria sat in a teacup with Krause's daughter Amber, she saw Walker approach Krause again.

"All of a sudden I see Ms. Walker come and kick Ms. Aimee in the back of the leg and try to get her on the floor," Victoria testified. "She hit her on the head with her purse, and when she realized it wasn't working, I guess, she grabbed her by the hair and started using her fists."

Walker, 51, is on trial on charges of battery and aggravated battery. If convicted, she faces up to 16years in prison.

Victoria's mother, Michelle Mauger, also testified about seeing the end of the May27 attack. Because of a heart condition, she hadn't joined Krause and the children on the ride, and as she waited for the group at the ride's exit she heard Krause screaming her name. She ran into the ride.

"I saw [Walker] with her hand on my friend's head pulling her hair back and hitting her on the top of the head," Mauger said.

After that day, Mauger testified, her friend changed dramatically. Krause, 35, began to stutter and developed a twitch. She had trouble remembering details, and her focus would drift during conversations. She also had trouble with simple tasks that before hadn't posed a problem.

"She calls me for her son's first-grade homework," Mauger testified. "She calls me at home in Jacksonville to help her because she can't figure it out."

Earlier in the day, Krause returned to the witness stand after beginning her testimony Monday. During his questioning, defense attorney David Allen implied that Krause hoped to make financial gains from the attack.

Allen noted that she wrote about planning to seek damages from Walker in a statement to the Sheriff's Office, said in a sworn statement that she was considering taking legal action against Walt Disney World, and hired a private attorney shortly after the incident.

In response, Krause said she understood damages to be compensation for her medical expenses, and that she had hired an attorney because she was unsure of her rights after being injured. She said she has no current plans to sue Disney.

Two of Krause's physicians, neurologist Jeffrey Friedlander and neuropsychologist Alexander Gimon, testified that Krause has suffered permanent brain damage.

Friedlander said he diagnosed her with a herniated disk in her spinal cord that is consistent with Krause's description of having her head snapped backward, while Gimon has diagnosed her with a long list of psychological disorders, including post-traumatic stress syndrome, severe depression, anxiety and the beginnings of agoraphobia.

Allen questioned the veracity of the diagnoses, nothing that there is little physical evidence to support their assertion that Krause's brain damage is the result of a concussion.

Before testimony began Tuesday, one of the eight jurors told Judge Jose Rodriguez that she overheard a news report about the case on a Lynx bus Tuesday morning. Rodriguez did not dismiss the juror but did arrange for a deputy sheriff to shuttle the jury to and from the court's parking facilities.

The trial resumes today.

Helen Eckinger can be reached at heckinger@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5934.