Two elementary school students were seriously injured while on a field trip to Ford’s test track in Auburn Hills, Michigan. A demonstration driver, in what appears to be a Mustang, lost control of the machine and ran headlong into the guardrail behind which the classroom of students had gathered. Elijah Gibson, eight at the time, and Lavell McGee, ten at the time, were hospitalized as a result of the July 2023 crash. A lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court names Continental Automotive Systems (the track owners), Ford Motor Co., the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program, and the driver as defendants in the case.
Both boys received injuries to their legs and traumatic brain injuries, and both have developed cognitive issues and suffer memory loss. Gibson received multiple surgeries as a result of his injuries. The lawsuit alleges negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, and other accusations.
You can see in the above image how the crash played out, as the car veered right, hopping the curb en route to smashing the guardrail right where the students had gathered under the pop-up tent. From there, the car rolled over to rest back on the asphalt. If it was still carrying enough speed to roll when it hit the guardrail, it must have been moving quite quickly.
The lawsuit, filed by Marko Law, PLLC and Scott Goodwin Law, P.C., claims the driver “rapidly accelerated the car in a negligent and/or reckless manner and lost control, plowing into the guardrail and violently striking the children watching the track from behind it. The collision was so violent that the vehicle flipped over on its roof.”
Obviously many unpredictable things had to go wrong for this tragic incident to have occurred. Certainly the chaperones could have done more to keep the kids back from the guardrail, and perhaps the driver didn’t need to execute a high-risk high-speed maneuver in close proximity to the children. I guess the legal proceedings and a jury of their peers will determine just who made which wrong call in short order.