For over 20 years, Brian Richards lived his dream as a father “in a complete and wonderful family.”
But when his 14-year-son, Sean Patrick Richards, was hit and killed by a car coming out of Hinsdale’s Fuller’s Car Wash on July 17, “that dream turned into a nightmare,” the father said.
“A large part of us was killed that day along with Sean,” Brian Richards said at a news conference Wednesday.
The boy’s family filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the car wash, its owner and the father of the teen employee who was driving the Jeep Wrangler that struck Sean Richards on the sidewalk before crashing into a Fontano’s Subs sandwich shop.
The lawsuit filed with Clifford Law Offices seeks damages in excess of $50,000, citing two separate crashes involving cars exiting the car wash since 2007 to argue that the business should have implemented safeguards.
In both earlier incidents, out-of-control cars jumped the curb and crossed into the street, though the cars hit other vehicles and not people, attorney Bradley Cosgrove said. An owner of a car hit in an earlier crash warned the business that “something needed to be done to make sure the area was safer” because pedestrians regularly pass by its exit, according to the lawsuit.
“This was a preventable and predictable tragedy that was clearly avoidable,” Cosgrove said. “They knew that this could happen and they took absolutely no reasonable steps.”
The family and attorneys criticized the business for allowing a 16-year-old employee to drive customers’ cars. They called for the business to move itself or be forced to move from the suburban town’s center, citing concerns about the safety of joggers, cyclists and stroller-pushers.
Video and car system reviews show the vehicle did not malfunction and that its accelerator was fully pushed during the crash, Brian Richards said.
Concrete bollards have since been installed outside the business, according to the boy’s mother, Kristine Richards.
“Why did it take our young son’s death for them to take any action to protect the public,” she asked at the news conference. She doesn’t believe the installation makes residents safe as quickly accelerating, heavy vehicles continue to pass through the car wash, she added.
The company’s owners, who operate more than 20 Chicagoland car washes and repair shops, said in a statement Wednesday that the legal process doesn’t change the “heavy hearts” they have and the grief they feel for the Richards family and others who were affected.
“While we cannot fathom what they are going through, we pray for the Richards family, all of those injured, and our entire community,” the Fuller family’s statement said. “The depth of this tragedy is felt daily by our family and employees. Our pledge is to remember and our promise is to serve the community faithfully as we have for decades.”
In a separate lawsuit filed in July days after the crash, three people inside Fontano’s claimed to be severely injured. That lawsuit is ongoing.
[ Victims of crash that killed Hinsdale boy file lawsuit against Fuller’s Car Wash ]
The father of the teen who was allegedly driving the Jeep could not be immediately reached Wednesday. The 16-year-old faces traffic citations, Cosgrove said.
Kristine Richards was waiting to meet her son at the library before he was struck. Her braces-clad boy had just left the orthodontist, and she saw him walking on the sidewalk.
When the Jeep burst out of the car wash and crashed into the shop at around 30 miles per hour, she first thought it was an intentional attack, she said.
The boy’s mother held him after he was hit by the car, which briefly stopped when it struck the teen before again accelerating and smashing into the restaurant, Brian Richards said. The “earnest, humble and kind” boy died in the hospital three days later.
His father remembered his son helping to celebrate morning mass as an altar boy the day before the crash. His son spent the prior week at a Boy Scout camp, where he earned a badge for swimming a mile in open water, Brian Richards said.
“He should be finishing final exams, attending swim team practice and getting ready for Christmas with his family. Instead, he is dead,” Kristine Richards said.
Brian Richards remembered his son’s infectious laugh and generous, two-armed hugs.
“Sean loved and was loved, and the world lost a truly special person,” he said. “He was sunshine, goodness and a positive influence on everyone around him.”