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Lawrenceville, GA— Jurors Monday previewed evidence surrounding a 2022 Amazon delivery van collision that severely injured a Georgia child, as trial opened against Amazon Logistics and its delivery partner. Bradfield v. Amazon Logistics, et al., 22-C-07003-S7.
The child, who was eight at the time, was crossing the street on an electric bike when he was run over and dragged by the van, driven by Jawonn Cowan, of Amazon’s delivery partner, Fly Fella Logistics. The boy suffered a broken pelvis and a degloving injury to his leg, which required multiple skin grafts to treat, and has left him with lifelong scarring.
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During Monday’s openings, Fried Goldberg’s Michael Goldberg, representing the child’s father, told jurors he was seeking $25 million in damages.
Moments before the collision, Cowan had stopped the van to allow a group of children to cross the street. The collision occurred after three children had crossed, and as Cowan accelerated from a stop. The injured boy’s father contends Cowan failed to ensure all of the children had crossed safely.
On Monday, Goldberg previewed evidence he said showed Amazon had sufficient control over Fly Fella’s operations to render it liable for Cowan’s conduct. And he told jurors Amazon did not provide Cowan with appropriate driver-safety training before the crash.
“You will hear that, 17 days after this accident, Amazon made him go through training, and that training was for motorcyclist, bicyclist, and pedestrian awareness,” Goldberg said. “But they didn’t give it to him before this accident.”
But Amazon contends the child’s father and a neighbor were at fault for failing to properly supervise him.
In his opening, Amazon’s attorney, Wilson Elser’s R. Dal Burton, told jurors the crash occurred while the child was playing outside at the neighbor’s home. And he said the neighbor acknowledged that she had left the child and three five-year olds unattended outside.
“She will tell you… had she been outside, she would have stopped [the child],” Burton said. “Think about it ladies and gentlemen, that’s an admission that this accident never happens, because she stops him before he gets to the street.”
And Hall Booth Smith’s Wayne Satterfield, representing Fly Fella and Cowan, told jurors the delivery driver acted appropriately in pulling away from the stop after the group of five-year-olds crossed the street. Satterfield said Cowan never saw the child on the bike before the crash, and the child entered the street too quickly and from an angle that rendered it impossible for Cowan to avoid the collision.
“[Cowan] looks left. He looks right. And he slowly proceeds,” Satterfield said. “What else was he supposed to do?”
Trial is expected to run through Thursday.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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