GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Brewer family heads to Chicago every summer, and stopping at Navy Pier is one of their favorite things to do, the parents said.
Last July, they did just that with their three boys, who loved climbing the climbing wall. They went up few times. However, when 8-year-old George did so, he hit a buzzer and then fell 24-feet down.
“We thought he was dead when he fell,” said George's dad, Gideon Brewer, during a press conference in downtown Chicago.
Gideon and his wife Erin recounted what happened, saying the boys were excited to climb the wall. Erin was standing nearby recording them on her phone.
“[George] got to the top and he said to hit the button at the top to stop the timer,” Erin said. “Then he let go to repel, which is what you’re supposed to do, and he just dropped. It was, it felt like a nightmare. It really did, I kept thinking ‘Oh my gosh, this is one of those times where I’m having a horrible dream and I’m going to wake up any second’ and I did not.”
George sustained multiple injuries, breaking his tibia, pelvis, and chin, shattering his femur, and suffering a concussion.
Wednesday, the Brewers filed a 10-count lawsuit against Navy Pier for negligence and not following safety protocols.
“One, they must affix the child to the wall with a rope. The operators have admitted that they did not do that here. Two, they cannot allow the child to climb the wall until safety precautions are in place,” said the family’s attorney Steve Levin. “In this case, they told the child, George, to climb the wall by telling him to hit a buzzer, which is the signal to start. They have no knowledge as to how George got up the wall. There were two operators there and both of them said 'we didn’t see George climb up.'”
Levin, of Levin and Perconti, said they learned through a Freedom of Information Act request that the attendants gave a statement to Navy Pier about the incident. However, his office has not heard from them.
Levin posted the fall to their YouTube page, which FOX 17 chose not to air in its entirety due to its graphic nature and George’s young age.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to see something like that happen to your kid,” Gideon said. “You think your kid’s dead, to watch your kid die in front of you is obviously pretty horrific. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody else.”
FOX 17 reached out to Navy Pier for statement or comment, and have yet to hear back.
As for the Brewers, they’re grateful George is recovering. He’s undergone multiple surgeries at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital. He has another one scheduled for January 2023. And, he’s now using a walker to walk.
However, the Brewers said they hope no other family experiences what they went through.
“He literally could not do anything for the first two months. Then [he] got the clear to do some physical therapy and then even now he’s still, I mean, he can’t just go and do the things he loves like play soccer and monkey bars, and run around with his brothers and his friends,” Erin said. “You know it’s infuriating because this was 100% preventable. This should never have happened. Ever.”
