Family of Man Who Died After GPS Directed Him Off Bridge That Collapsed in 2013 Sues Google

The family of a man who died last year after GPS directions sent him into the water is suing Google and the owners of the collapsed bridge over their alleged role in the incident.

Philip Paxson, 47, was using his GPS to navigate his way home on Sept. 30, 2022, when he drove onto an “unmarked, unbarricaded” bridge and plowed into a creek in Hickory, North Carolina, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court. .

The father of two was “driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party” after helping clean up after the party, according to the suit. It was a “dark and rainy night” and Paxson was “generally unfamiliar” with where he was driving.

Paxson “tragically drowned” after his car went over the Snow Creek Bridge, which was allegedly not repaired after the 2013 collapse, the lawsuit added.

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Multiple people previously contacted Google Maps about the collapse to update route information, the lawsuit said.

On Sept. 20, 2022, the woman tried to “suggest editing” the map, but Google “took no action,” according to the lawsuit.

As of April 6, 2023, the bridge was still marked as passable on Google Maps, even though Google had “once again been warned” about the dangers, according to the lawsuit.

This image presented in the lawsuit shows Phil Paxson’s car after it went off the Snow Creek Bridge in September 2022.

District Clerk of Superior Court Wade

Google was accused of “failing to take reasonable steps” to ensure its maps were accurate and reliable, as well as failing to respond to reports in a timely manner and “ignoring feedback” about the bridge’s dangers.

Paxson was like many other drivers and “trusted Google Maps to get him home safely” on the day of the crash, according to a statement from Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, the law firm representing Phil’s family.

“His reliance on Google Maps and the failure of road and bridge guards to do their job cost him his life,” Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky’s partner Larry Bendesky said in a statement.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Google spokesman José Castañeda said, “We have our deepest sympathies with the Paxson family.”

“Our goal is to provide accurate information about the routes in Maps and we are considering this lawsuit,” added Castañeda.

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Hickory businessman James Tarlton and companies Tarde LLC and Hinckley Gauvain LLC are named in the lawsuit as owners of the bridge and nearby land, according to Hickory Daily Record.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies and Tarlton “refused to install reasonable and adequate barricades in front of the hazard to warn motorists of the fatal fall” in addition to their refusal to “properly maintain the bridge itself.”

Tarlton and the companies did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

This photo of the Snow Creek Bridge was taken after Phil Paxson drove into the river in Hickory, North Carolina in September 2022. The image is included in the lawsuit.

District Clerk of Superior Court Wade

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Paxson, a U.S. Navy veteran, according to the lawsuit, leaves behind two daughters, ages 7 and 9, and his wife, Alicia Paxson.

According to New York PostAlicia said the situation “still doesn’t feel real.”

“Our little girls ask how and why their dad died, and I’m at a loss for words to understand,” she explained, “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.”

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Source: HIS Education