Metro

Conn. chimp ‘maul’ gal: Let me sue state

The Connecticut woman who was mauled and blinded by a berserk 200-pound chimpanzee pleaded for a chance to sue the state for $150 million yesterday.

“I hope and pray the commissioner will give me my day in court,” Charla Nash, wearing sunglasses and accompanied by her brother, told reporters in Hartford. “And I also pray that I hope this never happens to anyone else again.”

Making a rare appearance since the 2009 attack, Nash sat quietly as her lawyer said the chimp was “an accident waiting to happen.”

Charles Willinger asked State Claims Commissioner Paul Vance Jr. for permission to sue the state, arguing Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was negligent in allowing a friend of Nash’s to keep the animal in her Stamford home.

Nash amassed millions in hospital bills after the crazed chimp ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by police.