The mother and father of a 5-year-old killed in a Lehi preschool parking lot in 2015 are seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from the school.
Giselle and Giuseppe Ferrazzano filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday in 4th District Court against the state; Mountainland Head Start Inc.; Alpine School District, its board of education; and others in the death of their daughter Stella Ferrazzano.
Stella Ferrazzano died in December 2015 after a pickup hit her in the Mountainland Head Start parking lot, near 500 West and 200 South.
Giselle Ferrazzano was at the preschool to pick up the girl when the 5-year-old got away from her mother and was hit by a pickup.
The preschool parking lot shares an entryway and parking areas with Meadow Elementary School, which is part of Alpine School District.
The parents accuse those two — and the governing bodies that oversee their roadways and parking lots — of not providing a safe space for children, ultimately leading to their daughter’s death, the lawsuit says.
Court documents cite the parking lot’s alleged lack of marked crosswalks and pedestrian crossing signs, in addition to not having a crossing guard and allowing vehicles and buses to park in areas that limit pedestrians’ view of traffic in the crosswalk areas as factors in Stella Ferrazzano’s death.
”It’s just a terrible situation where a young girl lost her life because there’s literally this river of traffic that flows in front of this school building that’s unattended for the most part,” said Jonathan Remmel, who represents Giuseppe Ferrazzano.
The lawsuit alleges negligence from the preschool and others, and it accuses them of not enforcing safety statutes, ordinances and regulations from the federal and state departments of transportation, among other organizations.
Attempts to reach the preschool and school district for comment Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
The couple are seeking over $300,000 in damages, in addition to medical and funeral expenses and legal fees.
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