A Utah family is suing a local school district over the death of their 8-year-old son, who died after falling down a slide at a playground during recess.
According to allegations made in a lawsuit, Dallin Cunningham was playing on “a corkscrew-style slide” at Rose Springs Elementary School in Stansbury Park on February 6, 2023, when he “fell out of the slide approximately 7 feet above the ground And fell”. The suit was filed earlier this week in Third Judicial District Court by his parents, Timothy and Katherine Cunningham.
The young boy “suffered serious injuries, including a fatal blow to his head” after falling onto the “frozen rock-hard” surface below, according to court documents uploaded by CBS affiliate KUTV. Dallin was eventually taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
According to his obituary, Dallin died the next day. “We are deeply saddened,” his family wrote at the time. “We will miss his smiles, hugs, hugs, jokes, playful spirit and his amazing mind.”
School employees are accused of not immediately calling 911 after the fall, according to court documents. Cunningham’s lawyers claim that the playground did not meet “generally recognized safety standards” at the time of the incident.
“These failures to follow established safety standards have made the playground an unreasonably dangerous product,” he said, according to court documents.
According to Fox affiliate KTSU, the family’s attorney, Peter Mifflin, said it is “still very, very difficult” for Dallin’s family members to talk about the details of the boy’s death.
Robert J. “I’ve represented a lot of grieving parents and I would say they’re still very, very hurt,” said Mifflin, who works for DeBry & Associates.
The attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment and did not name the school district in the lawsuit.
