According to a lawsuit filed this week, a North Carolina lady is suing Google after her husband died after driving off a fallen bridge while following GPS directions.
Philip Paxson died after driving off “an unmarked, unbarricaded collapsed bridge” in Hickory on the night of Sept. 30, 2022, according to his widow, Alicia Paxson, in a Wake County lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, Paxson was unaware the bridge had collapsed and was following GPS directions from Google that had not been updated.
A jury trial is sought in the negligence complaint. It does not specify the amount of harm.
It listed Alphabet, Google’s parent firm, as well as three individuals who own or control the land on which the bridge on 24 Street Place NE is located.
According to the lawsuit, a substantial part of the bridge, known as the Snow Creek Bridge, collapsed in 2013 and was never repaired.
According to the lawsuit, Google Maps instructed Paxson to take that route as he drove home from his 9-year-old daughter’s birthday party on a rainy night.
He was the lone person in the Jeep Gladiator. He had stayed late to assist clean up after the party, and his wife had returned home with their two girls.
According to the lawsuit, a woman informed Google that the bridge was closed. According to the lawsuit, that person utilized the “suggest an edit” tool twice in 2020 and was told in an emailed response that the matter was being reviewed.
According to the suit, the Paxsons lived about 4 miles from where the party took place, and he was unfamiliar with the region. According to the report, the family relocated to Hickory in 2020 when Philip Paxson, a medical device salesman, got promoted.
The area was unlit and “was pitch black at 11:00 p.m.” when the fatal crash occurred, the suit alleges. The Jeep went 20 feet down and Paxson drowned, it says.
A Google spokesperson said the company’s goal is to provide accurate directions.
“We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family. Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit,” the spokesperson said in a statement early Thursday.
Hickory is a city of around 43,000 about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte
