Family of 5-year-old N.C. boy crushed in rotating Atlanta restaurant files lawsuit

ATLANTA -- (WGHP) -- The family of a 5-year-old boy who died after being crushed in a rotating restaurant atop a downtown Atlanta tower has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, its owners and staff.

The boy, Charles Holt, was at the Sun Dial restaurant with his family during a visit to Atlanta from Charlotte. The dining spot tops the 73-story cylindrical Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel and rotates to give patrons a panoramic view of the city.

Holt died after being trapped between a table and a moving wall.

The suit alleges the restaurant, as well as the hotel and others, were negligent in failing to address a “longstanding safety hazard” that led to Holt's death.

The suit also alleges there were no protections to stop children from getting trapped at a “pinch point” and that no emergency stop mechanism was in place to quickly stop the rotation should an emergency arise.

“The control box that controlled the rotation of the platform was mounted against the ceiling in in a separate room away from the pinch point.”

Marriott International, which owns the hotel and is named in the lawsuit, refused to comment.

“We do not comment on pending litigation,” Jeff Flaherty, senior director of global crisis communications & corporate affairs at Marriott International, told CNN via email.

The Holts also dispute initial reports from Atlanta Police that the boy had wandered off from their table while they were having lunch.

The suit says the family was leaving the restaurant together, after paying for their meal, and the child was a few steps in front of his parents when he became trapped. “Charlie's parents were only a few feet behind him and immediately went to help him,” the suit says.

The suit also describes in detail the harrowing moments after Holt became trapped — and the frantic efforts to free him that were made his father, Michael, and his mother, Rebecca.

“Rebecca grabbed his arm but could not move him. Michael could not free him,” the suit says. “The Holts screamed for help, for someone to stop the movement.”

“After a restaurant employee finally went down the hall to a separate room and stopped the rotation, it still took several grown men what seemed like an eternity to get Charlie out,” the suit adds.

Charlie was taken to nearby Grady Memorial Hospital and died a few hours later.