Video shows 8-year-old boy fall 24 feet off Navy Pier rock wall onto concrete; family files lawsuit
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Michigan family filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Cook County after their son was critically hurt when he fell from the top of a rock wall at Navy Pier.
The Grand Rapids family spoke with reporters Wednesday morning, saying this has been a nightmare.
The Brewer family shared cell phone video of their 8-year-old son, George. When he gets to the top, he falls 24 feet down.
ABC7 Chicago highlighted him climbing a rock wall at Navy Pier back in July, and stopped the video just moments after he falls.
The family is alleging that workers failed to properly harness and secure the child to the climbing wall and that he fell from the top without anything on the ground to cushion the fall onto the concrete pavement.
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They also allege that no one from Navy Pier offered assistance after the fall.
"Hearing your child asking if he's going to die, I mean he's an 8-year-old boy," George's mother Erin Brewer said. "It's like his innocence was taken from him. This should've been a fun experience, and it couldn't have been any worse."
"What we hope is to hold Navy Pier accountable for what they did to our son and then hold them accountable so this doesn't happen to another family," father Gideon Brewer said.
George's parents said he is recovering from severe injuries all over his body, from his face to his ankles.
He has undergone four surgeries, and will need more in the future.
Right now, he is walking with a walker and receiving extensive physical therapy.
"They undertook the obligation to ensure that George was safely fastened to this wall, and they did not fulfill this obligation," attorney Steve Levin said.
Navy Pier said it has not seen the lawsuit and would not comment on pending litigation.
