Google is being sued by the family of a North Carolina man who drowned after he drove off a collapsed bridge while following outdated directions from the Maps app.
Philip Paxson was driving home from his daughter’s birthday party on Sept. 30, 2022 when his car plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory — about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte — after Google Maps allegedly directed him to drive over a bridge that had collapsed nine years earlier and was never repaired.
Paxton, 47, was found in his partially submerged and overturned Jeep Gladiator.
According to the family’s negligence lawsuit against the tech company, Google was informed about the bridge’s status multiple times but never updated its navigation software.
“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,” his wife Alicia Paxson said in a news release.
State troopers said there were no barriers or warning signs along the road for Paxton to see before he drove off an unguarded edge on the damaged structure — nicknamed “The Bridge to Nowhere” — and dropped 20 feet.
The North Carolina State Patrol said the bridge was owned by a private company that had dissolved, but the lawsuit names several private property management firms which it claims are responsible for the maintenance of the bridge and surrounding land.
“The attorneys expect even more complaints will be revealed when Google must respond to discovery requests in the litigation,” the news release reads.
