DETROIT — DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan has acquired a life ring that washed ashore 50 years ago from Edmund Fitzgerald, a rare artifact that has bizarrely become part of a settlement in a lawsuit unrelated to the incident. Famous shipwreck.
Court records show taxpayers are paying $600,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Larry Orr, who accused a state police officer of violating his rights during a discredited sexual assault investigation.
Orr, in turn, agreed to give up the Ring of Life that he owned. US Judge David Grand said it was an “unusual settlement conference” when the lawyers appeared in court on October 8 and recorded the deal.
The Associated Press reached out to state police this week to try to find out why she wanted the life ring and who allowed Lt. David Busacca’s attorney to bargain for it.
“Upon learning the details of the settlement, we did not feel comfortable including the life saver and will be reaching out to Mr. Orr’s attorney,” company spokesperson Shannon Banner said in an email Thursday.
The banner will not answer follow-up questions. The state already has an orange ring.
Orr found it on the shore of Lake Superior after the ship Fitzgerald sank during a spectacular storm in November 1975. All twenty-nine men aboard the ore ship died. Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot He commemorated the disaster with a popular song called “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Orr was planning to auction off the ring, thinking it might attract more attention on its 50th anniversary in a few weeks, his lawyer, Shannon Smith, said.
Busacca apparently knew that Orr had one, and the issue suddenly came up during talks to settle Orr’s claim against him, Smith said.
She said it likely represents half of the $600,000 deal reached over allegations of police misconduct.
“Are we in mediation for a wrongful prosecution or property sale?” Smith said she wondered.
Busacca’s attorney, Audrey Forbush, declined to comment when contacted by the AP. Orr, who is in his 70s, also declined to comment.
The life ring was on loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula until Orr recovered it this year.
“It’s quite unusual,” museum director Bruce Lane said. “I honestly have no idea how many people are there.”