Family sues owners and staff after five-year-old boy crushed to death in rotating restaurant
Parents seeking damages and jury trial
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Your support makes all the difference.The family of a five-year-old boy who was crushed to death after he became trapped by a rotating restaurant floor is suing the restaurant and hotel chain.
Charles Holt was killed in April after he became trapped between a wall and a wooden booth at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel’s Sun Dial restaurant in Atlanta.
His family’s lawsuit alleges the restaurant, its staff and owners were negligent in failing to fix a “longstanding safety hazard” regarding the so-called “pinch point” where children could be trapped, with no emergency stop button for the moving floor.
Marriott International, which owns the hotel, did not immediately respond to The Independent for comment.
Lawyer Joseph Fried filed the suit on behalf of the child’s parents, Rebecca and Michael Holt, from North Carolina. The lawsuit disputes the police reports, which claim the child wandered off while the family was eating.
His parents said they had finished eating and were leaving the restaurant together when their son, who was a few steps ahead of them, became trapped between a booth and stationary wall.
His parents’ attempts to rescue him did not work.
“Rebecca grabbed his arm but could not move him. Michael could not free him,” the document read, as reported by CNN. “The Holts screamed for help, for someone to stop the movement.”
The rotating floor allegedly did not stop until a restaurant employee went into the adjoining room to reach the control box.
Several men were reportedly needed to lift the boy out. He was taken to a nearby hospital and died a few hours later.
Charles’ parents are seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
"The family has filed this lawsuit to set the record straight about what happened and to make sure, to the best of their abilities, that no other family ever has to suffer the same fate," the statement added.
The restaurant reopened in June.
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