Man Dies Falling From Broken Bridge After Led By Google Map, Family Sued Company (Image: Twitter/JoeBruno)
A new lawsuit alleges that a man named Philip Paxson, hailed from North Carolina in USA, died using Google Maps at night after he drove off an unmarked broken bridge that collapsed.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, by the deceased family suing the tech giant Google for negligence.
The 47-year-old Mr Paxson was reportedly driving home through an unfamiliar route from his daughter”s ninth birthday party, last year. He was using the directions from Google Maps and the application allegedly led him off a ruined bridge. He died drowning after the car plunged off the bridge.
Mr Paxson was a medical salesperson and a father of two.
The incident happened on September 30, 2022, when Mr Paxson”s Jeep Gladiator plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory, says the WION. The bridge was collapsed nine years prior and was never repaired.
Police found Paxson”s body from his overturned and partially submerged Gladiator truck, and said that there were no barriers or warning signs along the road caused the accident.
As per the lawsuit, Google is now alleged of not taking any notice about the dangerous condition of the collapsed bridge, even after multiple alerts were brought into. It also named several property management companies claiming responsibility for the bridge and the nearby land.
The bridge was neither under the possession of North Carolina State Patrol nor maintained by local or state officials, informed the authority, and the original developer”s company had dissolved.
According to reports, the Tuesday”s court filing included email records from another Hickory resident who used the map”s “suggest an edit” feature in September 2020 to alert the company that it was directing drivers over the collapsed bridge. Google also send a mail in-return in November 2020 confirming that the company received the resident”s request. But the company failed to take any further action.
The multinational tech expressed condolences to the victim”s family and confirmed they are reviewing the lawsuit. “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family”, WION quoted Google spokesperson José Castañeda.
“Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could have acted with so little regard for human life”, WION quoted Alicia Paxson, Mr Paxson”s wife.
