Travolta: Bahamas Medic Threatened Me

(AP)  John Travolta has told a court in the Bahamas that a local paramedic threatened to sell stories to the news media suggesting the movie star was at fault in the death of his 16-year-old son.

Travolta testified that the paramedic who is now on trial for extortion demanded $25 million from the actor.

He was testifying in the second week of the trial of paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and attorney Pleasant Bridgewater.

Travolta told the court that Lightbourne had a consent document that the actor signed when medics came to the aid of his son. He says the medic threatened to use the document to "imply that the death of my son was intentional and I was culpable in some way."

Lightbourne and Bridgewater have pleaded innocent.

On Tuesday, Travolta's lawyer testified that the paramedic who treated the actor's chronically ill son was ready to release private information to the media unless he was paid $25 million for a document he believed "detrimental" to the movie star.

Allyson Maynard-Gibson, an attorney for Travolta who is also the opposition leader in the archipelago's Senate, said Lightbourne's lawyer told her days after the autistic boy's death in January that the paramedic wanted to give the actor "first option" to buy the document.

Maynard-Gibson told the jury that the lawyer, former Bahamas Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, who is also facing extortion charges along with Lightbourne, told her during a Jan. 15 meeting that the paramedic had been talking to international media companies and that the document "could belong to Travolta or it could belong to the world."

Lightbourne "had been in contact with a lady from the U.S. media who said it might be beneficial to him if he could show that Travolta was negligent," Maynard-Gibson testified, without disclosing the person's identity.

The document, which Travolta signed, would have cleared the ambulance driver of liability if the family refused to send 16-year-old Jett Travolta to the hospital. The actor testified last week that he initially wanted his son flown to Florida for treatment after a seizure on Jan. 2 that resulted in Jett's death.

But Jett was treated in the Bahamas, and it is unclear why the defendants allegedly believed Travolta would pay to keep the document private.

Maynard-Gibson, who is also a former attorney general in the Bahamas, said Bridgewater told her she had warned Lightbourne that "what he was doing was wrong and that it would be detrimental to the country."

The trial began Sept. 21 and is expected to last several weeks. Travolta is expected to give further testimony later in the trial.

[micheleisfree]

I hope they get the maximum sentence allowed.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Travolta,
I am very sad for your loss, truly heart-breaking.
I hope you get justice that gives you peace during such a thoroughly soul-wrenching situation.
These people who did this to you are less than human.
Jett, Rest In Peace.

[G-I_Jesus]

I am very sorry for your son John.

[bubbadubba]

Travolta obviously thought his son was not as bad off as he actually was but changed his mind, and people who are trashing Travolta over the death of his son are just mean spirited people who need to get a life.
I want anyone to tell me with a straight face that Travolta's son would have gotten the same level of treatment in the Bahamas as he would have received in some high priced US hospital.
If you people want to attack Scientology quit using Travolta's tragic pain and sorrow to do it. What do you have for a heart, a computer chip?

[bill0bob]

"John Travolta has told a court in the Bahamas that a local paramedic threatened to sell stories to the news media suggesting the movie star was at fault in the death of his 16-year-old son."

Extortion is a bad thing, but you can't extort somebody unless they have something to hide. The Trovoltas refused to give their autistic child anti-seizure medicine, and he died from his seizures. So, who do you think is at fault? Certainly not the kid. I don't think he chose to be born into a family of "religious" nut-bags!

Instead of treating disease, scientology tells them to do a "purification rundown" (or some such double-speak). It consists of endless physical exercise, vitamins and supplements, and long stays in a sauna -- up to five hours a day for five weeks straight! That's NOT what this child needed! So, WHO is responsible for his death? Certainly not the idiots who tried to extort money from The Revoltas!

If Jett had been on the proper medication for his autism and/or epilepsy/seizures, NONE of this would have ever happened. Period.

Scientology kills. Jett Trovolta is just the latest death we know about.

Sympathy for the Revoltas? No effing way! They MURDERED their own son! (Criminal child negligence at the very least!)

[hangfire19]

So billobob - how did you get a copy of the kid's medical records? You seem to have so many of the facts as to his treatment.

[UTinkUNoItAll]

Here you are, in another country, your son is dying, you're terrified, confused, frantic and just don't know what to do. Then, the unthinkable happens. Your child dies. I don't care if you are the richest man on earth or the poorest; I cannot imagine the pain. Then, as you realize what has happened and your spirit is broken and your pain deepest, these pieces of scum come along and try to extort money from you. What people devoid of any emotion, morals or caring would do something like this? I hope they get the harshest and most terrible sentence imaginable. Trash is what they are. I feel so badly for the Travoltas, having to relive this over and over again.