The loss of a child is never easy to deal with, but when the loss comes at the tender age of five it could be impossible to recover from. This is the tragic situation faced by the family of Charlie Holt, a 5-year-old child who was identified as the victim of a tragic event that took place at Sun Dial Restaurant, Atlanta. The youngster died during an incident that took place at the Westin Peachtree Plaza four years ago and has been the result of a long-running legal case. The suit has now been settled, though, with ownership group Marriott.
Holt died in 2017 when he was caught between a wall and a table of the rotating floor within the restaurant. The child was on holiday with parents Rebecca and Michael, when he was pinned. Though staff and employees worked hard to rescue the boy, serious brain injuries led to his untimely death at Grady Memorial Hospital.
The family filed a lawsuit in 2017 stating that the restaurant had failed to tackle what they called a “longstanding safety hazard”, and also heavily disputed claims that the child’s death came when he wandered away from his parents.
A statement was released from both parties, saying that Charlie has not wandered away from his parents, and both parties have agreed to find consensus as opposed to continue litigation. The terms of settlement, though, were not made public.
What was said?
The parents of Charlie released their own statement, saying: “Our family will never recover from the loss of Charlie. In fact, we have struggled for many months with whether or not we should release this joint statement. Being under the microscope of the world has been horrific and the thought of conjuring it up again was like reopening a wound that will never fully heal. However, we are reminded of the goal of this statement, so that Charlie’s siblings know that their brother and their parents did nothing wrong that day.
“One day, when they Google their brother, which they will, they need to be able to find the truth hidden in the lies and commentary of the press and police officers who never asked nor took our statement. We owe it to Charlie to make sure the world knows the truth. And we owe it to all families, to make sure safety measures have been put into place to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Citation
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.