Prom proposal went so wrong student suffered brain trauma and school is being sued
‘It’s just heartbreaking even to watch that video because, in any instant, he could have passed away.'
This high school student’s idea for an unforgettable ‘promposal’ will live long in the memory – for all the wrong reasons.
The plan was to pick his girlfriend up in a Porsche and jump a stop sign in the car park before being pulled over by the school’s law enforcement officer, who was in on the ruse.
Instead of being handcuffed and hauled away, however, he would pull out a poster asking her to the upcoming school dance.
Elaborate and exciting. Except that’s not what happened…
CCTV from the parking lot shows the vehicle hurtling towards the intersection at nearly three times the speed limit and smashing into another student on his motorcycle travelling across it.
The rider, former student William Vannasap, suffered ‘lasting physical and emotional’ injuries after being catapulted into the air and crashing back down onto the concrete.
One of his sisters, Mayci, told ABC News: ‘It’s just heartbreaking even to watch that video because, in any instant, he could have passed away.
‘He told us that when he got hit, he let out the most blood-curdling scream ever.’
Another, Daisee, said: ‘You can see on the video the student wasn’t going the mileage, you know, 15mph in the school zone. You could tell that he was going way faster.’
The student’s lawyers have now submitted a notice of claim seeking $1,000,000 (£795,000) to settle a suit against the city of Chandler, Arizona, and its school district.
It claims the driver had obtained the principal’s and school resource officer’s permission to ‘run a stop sign in the school parking lot’ as part of his ‘plan to ask a girl to an upcoming school dance’.
The officer said that ‘moments after explaining the (proposal) idea to the principal’ the driver ‘drove towards the stop sign at a high rate of speed… and did not look both ways nor slow down’.
He added the initial plan was for the driver to ‘roll the stop sign’, but he instead drove towards it at ‘approximately 40mph’.
The district told ABC News it is unable to comment as it is an ongoing legal matter.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
