AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Two metro Detroit families filed a lawsuit after a terrible crash injured two young boys on a field trip.
The incident happened at a test track in Auburn Hills in July 2023.
The lawsuit alleges the driver lost control of the vehicle on purpose.
It was a fun, educational field trip that turned tragic. Elijah Gibson, 8, and Lavell McGee, 10, were both injured.
"Any trained driver would know that doing what he did would cause it to lose control," attorney Jon Marko said.
On Tuesday, Marko and attorney Scott Goodwin filed a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company, Continental Automotive Systems, the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program, or DAPCEP, and the driver of that test track vehicle.
According to the 21-page complaint, Ford designed the prototype vehicle, Continental is where the crash occurred and driver was employed and DAPCEP is the program the children were a part of as part of that field trip.
"What Continental and the other defendants did as part of this program, they thought that it was going to be a good idea to put all of these little children who are there for this field trip and to observe as part of this program in this tent on the left side (of photo embedded), directly next to this high speed without any protections whatsoever," Marko explained.
Among the many accusations are gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, negligent hiring and negligent supervision.
"Elijah suffered a fractured skull with actual bleeding and hemorrhaging of the brain with a traumatic brain injury," Marko said.
He said he also suffered bone fractures requiring screws in his extremities and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"This whole experience has been like a nightmare that we've been unable to wake up from. Those young men will never be the same. Our families will never be the same, and we just want them to do the right thing," Vincent Gibson, Elijah's father, said.
"And in the end, we will get justice for those children."
7 News Detroit reached out to Ford, Continental and DAPCEP for comment. Ford and Continental said they do not comment on pending litigation. DAPCEP also said they had no comment at this moment but our message was being forwarded.
