LED TO TRAGEDY
My husband plunged to his death driving off a collapsed bridge – now I’m suing Google Maps for guiding him there
THE grieving widow of a man who drove off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps is now suing the tech giant for negligence.
Dad-of-two Philip Paxson drowned after his car careered off the edge of the overpass and plunged into a creek in North Carolina.
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The 47-year-old was driving in an unfamiliar area last September and was relying on Google Maps for directions in stormy weather.
The navigation system allegedly led him over a bridge that had collapsed nearly a decade before and was never repaired.
Philip's heartbroken wife Alicia Paxson is now suing Google for negligence, claiming they failed to update the navigation system.
Alicia said: "Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could have acted with so little regard for human life."
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She added: "It still doesn't feel real".
Philip was on his way home from his eldest daughter's birthday party when his car lurched off the edge, crashing 20 feet below.
Local cops in Hickory found his body inside the overturned and partially submerged Jeep after the horror crash on September 30.
There were reportedly no warning signs for motorists travelling on the road, or barriers around the dilapidated bridge.
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The overpass was damaged during flooding in 2013.
The lawsuit also alleges that multiple people had warned Google about updating their system in the years leading up to the tragic accident.
One local apparently even used Google's own "suggest and edit" feature in 2020 to alert the tech giant about the risk.
Lawsuit documents also allege that the company ignored the suggestion.
The lawsuit, which Alicia filed this week, also names local businessman James Tarlton and the companies Tarde LLC and Hinckley Gauvain LLC as defendants.
Tarlton and the companies are identified as the owners of the bridge and the land surrounding it, according to the .
They are accused of failing to repair the damaged overpass and providing sufficient lighting to guide drivers away from the edge.
Philip's family previously said: "He travelled the world with his father-in-law riding motorcycles. He and his wife along with their two daughters enjoyed camping and boating with family and friends.
"Phil put his family first and his friends, almost equal, second.
"He was larger than life, always ready for an adventure, with a permanent smile on his face, he would give you the shirt off his back or talk you out of the one on yours."
They remembered him as having "a lifelong affection for muscle cars, motorcycles, dirt bikes, boats, really anything with a motor".
A Google spokesperson told The Sun: "We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family.
"Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit."
Three years ago an 18-year-old driver froze to death after relying on his sat nav in brutal -50c Russian weather.
The Google Maps instructions sent him on a disused shortcut across the world’s coldest inhabited region, according to reports.
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Sergey Ustinov and friend Vladislav Istomin, also 18, were left stranded on Russia's notorious Road of Bones.
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