A rotating restaurant crushed a five-year-old boy in its path early Friday afternoon in Atlanta.
The boy from Charlotte, NC left his parents’ table at the Sun Dial rotating restaurant located in the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. He wandered around briefly before accidentally wedging himself between another table and a wall, as the restaurant turned. The floor stopped rotating as designed when it detected something blocking its path, but the boy suffered serious head injuries and died at the hospital.
Sun Dial rotating restaurant atop the Westin in downtown Atlanta will stay closed after 5 year old boy killed when he stuck. LIVE report@730 pic.twitter.com/Ftlm5S4Mo7
— Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB) April 15, 2017
Patrons rushed to the child’s aid. “The amount of people who were helping was amazing,” Atlanta Police Department spokesperson Warren Pickard said, according to WRAL. “They were moving furniture, they were pulling chairs — chairs that were bolted to the floor — they were pulling them up to try to get the child out.”
The tragic incident leaves many unsure of where responsibility lies. “A small child (doesn’t) know what to do in those moments,” Pickard told the media in a press conference. “It crushed his little, small body.”
These kinds of incidents might be avoidable, with appropriate precautions.
Your Safety Is Required
People are protected in their daily lives by premises liability, which requires owners and operators to safeguard visitors from injury on their property. Businesses have certain expectations regarding the safety of their property under a legal idea called premises liability.
Premises liability varies from state to state, but generally covers circumstances where a business acts negligently and causes injuries to a patron. One common claim is slip and fall, when someone visits a business and hurts themselves falling on usually wet, icy, or uneven floors while shopping. A business must make a reasonable effort to inform patrons of a dangerous area on their premises, and often may have to fix it quickly if it is particularly serious.
Another frequent claim is elevator or escalator accidents, where a malfunctioning elevator or escalator causes injury. In these cases, both the operator and the manufacturer may be negligent due to the product’s design, implementation, operation, or a combination of factors.
Victims of elevator or escalator accidents, slip and falls, or even amusement park accidents can seek damages for injuries ranging from medical bills to wrongful death, where injuries are fatal. You may be eligible for these damages even if you sign a waiver saying you understand the danger.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and the community continues to grieve.
“Words cannot express the depths of our sorrow,” said Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel manager George Reed. “Our thoughts remain with the family.”
The restaurant stayed closed Easter weekend following the boy’s death, and reopens today, reports say.
(Editor’s Note: This is a news story from the ‘Morgan Monitor,’ a news wire offering legal perspectives on news in your community.)
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