A New Jersey boy was left with traumatic brain injury after he was whacked in the head by someone swinging a golf club at Dick’s Sporting Goods, a lawsuit against the retail giant charges.
Tiffany Fields says her 12-year-old son Colt was at an outpost of the store in Cumberland Mall on Oct. 7, 2017 when the incident happened in a “golf club fitting room” meant for patrons to “test” and take practice swings of its golf clubs before purchase.
The Vineland mom says in her suit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, that her son was knocked unconscious in the “unsupervised” fitting room by “another unsupervised” minor who was swinging a club.
“At all times relevant Defendant Dick’s was negligent in creation, maintenance and supervision of a very dangerous condition of its premises at the above-mentioned time,” the suit says.
Store employees “carelessly supervised and secured the golf club fitting room” in the outdoor and hunting gear store, according to the suit, which is seeking damages plus interests and the cost of attorney fees.
The incident caused Fields’ son to “sustain serious, severe, permanent and disabling injuries including … being knocked unconscious, suffered TBI [traumatic brain injury], had to have medical treatment, will require future treatment, was and will be prevented from engaging in his usual activities,” the suit claims.
Thomas Vesper, the attorney representing Fields and her son, told The Post Tuesday that Colt was with his older brother and his brother’s friend at the time of the golf club incident.
“Where was the adult supervision [in the golf club fitting room]?” Vesper asked. “They leave the [golf] room unlocked and anyone like a 5-year-old could go and start this simulator because it’s not locked down.”
Gina Calabria, an attorney for Dick’s Sporting Goods, placed the blame on Fields in a filing responding to the suit, saying the “plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence” and that “at no time was the answering defendant negligent.”
The attorney for chain store also argued in the court papers that the case was filed outside of the statute of limitations and moved for it to be tossed.
A rep for Dick’s Sporting Goods did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.