A five year old boy was killed after he was crushed to death on April 14 in a rotating restaurant at the top of a tower in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The child was caught between a table and a wall as the floor was moving.
The child was a guest in the Sun Dial restaurant at the top of the 73 story Westin peachtree Plaza Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The top of the tower rotates to give guests a 360 degree view of downtown.
The boy’s head somehow became caught between four or five inches of space between the table and wall near his parents’ table.
The floor stopped rotating immediately as it is designed to do when something gets caught. But the child had suffered serious head injuries and died at a local hospital.
Our View
Losing a loved one, especially a child, is one of the most terrible tragedies anyone can experience, and our hearts go out to the parents in this sad accident. The pain of the loss is made worse when the accident that caused a child’s death was from a prevenatable accident such as this above tragedy in Atlanta.
Unfortunately, accidental deaths among children are not uncommon in the US. The CDC reports that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for US children. The most common fatal injuries include car accidents, burns, drowning, falls and poisoning. Every year, 12,000 children from ages 0-19 are killed in unintentional injuries. More than 9.2 million children are treated each year for non fatal injuries.
The above heartbreaking accident is a rare, freak event, but there is little doubt that the company that owns the restaurant will come under scrutiny for the safety of the rotating restaurant. There will probably be questions about whether the design of the rotating aspects of the restaurant were designed safely, and many other factors.
People who have lost a loved one in a preventable accident should be aware that they may have the option to file a wrongful death lawsuit to obtain justice in such situations. Our personal injury attorneys in Virginia and North Carolina have written a helpful guide called What To Do If You Lost a Loved One in An Accident that can help families determine the best legal path forward in the aftermath of unthinkable personal loss.
The wrongful death guide provides vital information such as what the statute of limitations is for filing a claim, the types of damages that can be pursued, and who may be appointed as a personal representative.
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