SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The family of a woman who died along with her 2-year- old son in a fall from a third-floor concourse at Petco Park last year is suing the Padres and the city of San Diego for alleged negligence.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court by Raquel Wilkins' parents, Darleen Clough and Donald Wilkins, alleges tables and benches at the ballpark were situated too close to a dangerously low railing.
Wilkins, 40, and her son Denzel died shortly before 4 p.m. Sept. 25, 2021, after going over the railing to the street below, landing in the 200 block of Tony Gwynn Way.
Witnesses told news crews Wilkins climbed on a picnic table on the concourse moments before the fatal fall.
In January, San Diego police announced the deaths had been ruled a murder-suicide.
"Detectives conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation that included dozens of interviews, reviewing of available video footage and collecting background information to determine what led to the deaths," SDPD Lt. Andra Brown said at the time.
The lawsuit alleges the risk posed by situating the tables and benches so close to the railing should have been foreseen and that they should have been affixed to the concourse to prevent moving the tables and benches near the railing.
The complaint also states that onsite security and personnel were negligent for "failing to protect decedents from the dangerous table and railing configuration and for failing to adequately maintain proper surveillance, supervision and monitoring of the premises."
