People hurt when Jeep crashed into Hinsdale restaurant sue driver, car wash

Three people injured when a Jeep crashed into a Hinsdale restaurant have sued the driver and the car wash for which he works.

They allege that Fuller’s Car Wash didn’t adequately train the teenage employee. They also allege it should not have accepted the Jeep for car washing because Jeeps have problems with sudden acceleration, according to the lawsuit.

It was filed Tuesday in Cook County circuit court.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs -- Sophia Ricciardi, Michal Lizler and Connor J. Sullivan -- were eating in Fontano Subs and Deli, 9 S. Lincoln St., when a car wash employee drove the 2020 Jeep Wrangler out of the car wash and into the parking lot.

But then the Wrangler left the lot, hit 14-year-old Sean Richards of Hinsdale, and struck the restaurant building.

Richards died several days later of his injuries. His family is not a part of this lawsuit.

Fuller’s “failed to prohibit the use of the car wash by vehicles known to have a risk and/or propensity to encounter sudden acceleration events and caused and permitted an inexperienced employee to operate the subject Jeep vehicle when the Defendant Fuller Entities knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known, that Jeep vehicles have a history of sudden accelerations events,” the lawsuit states.

The owners of Fuller’s could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.

The defendants seek unspecified compensation from Fuller’s Car Wash, the car wash employee and his father.

The car wash is part of an 11-site car-care company. It started in 1946 in Hinsdale.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20230726/people-hurt-when-jeep-crashed-into-hinsdale-restaurant-sue-driver-car-wash