Man Killed in Bear Motorcycle Crash Was Clergy Sexual Abuse Victim

News Journal
November 19, 2013

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131119/NEWS15/311190106/Crash-shuts-eastbound-US-40-in-Bear

[with video]

Joseph L. Curry, one of the first victims of clergy sexual abuse to tell his story publicly in Delaware, died today when his motorcycle slammed into another vehicle on U.S. 40 near Bear.

State police say Curry, 43, of New Castle, was speeding eastbound on U.S. 40 at about 9:21 a.m. when he went through a red traffic light. Police say Thomas B. Christy, 50, of West Chester, Pa., was turning left onto U.S. 40 from Church Road in a 2006 GMC Sierra pickup truck with a utility trailer behind it.

The motorcycle struck the side of the utility trailer, pinning both Curry and the motorcycle underneath it, according to state police spokesman Sgt. Paul Shavack.

Curry was taken to Christiana Hospital Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead. Christy was not injured.

Curry was among dozens of abuse victims who filed suit against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington under provisions of the 2007 Child Victims Act. The Delaware law made it possible for those whose cases would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations to file suit in civil court.

He filed suit for abuse by the late Rev. Edward Carley, who was the priest at St. Dennis parish in Galena, Md.

In January 2011, he reached a $1.7 million settlement with the Diocese of Wilmington for the hundreds of incidents of abuse he suffered as an altar boy between1981 and 1986.

Attorney Raeann Warner said Curry had “horrible things done to him as a child,” and news of his death today was a shock.

“He was brave,” said Warner, who was part of the legal team who worked on Curry’s case and others at Jacobs & Crumplar. “He was courageous. He was ready to go to trial.”

She said Curry’s strength and “fearlessness” to publicly confront those who abused him when he was a child was a source of strength and courage for other survivors to come forward and tell their stories.

Attorney Thomas Neuberger, who also represented Curry at one point, said Curry’s death is “a tragic loss of a promising life cut short by unspeakable and violent sex crimes on Joe when he was a very young boy.”

“As is common with sex crime victims, Joe suffered many afflictions as a result throughout his life,” Neuberger said, including a life of petty crimes and drug use that sent him to prison several times.

“He valiantly fought those demons, but now sadly, his battle is over. Joe was one of the heroes who fought for justice for all survivors against the crimes of the Catholic Church,” Neuberger said.