Walmart blames boy, 9, who suffered fatal injury after accident at one of its stores

Walmart has seemingly placed the blame of the death of a nine-year-old boy who died years after hitting his head on a metal cart on the deceased child.

Tamika Springer sued the retail giant for creating a 'dangerous and unsafe condition' within their Fort Lauderdale store after her son, Saiy'yah Allen-Bey, then 7, walked into a metal stock cart and hit his head in a walkway in November 2020.

Springer, of Miami Gardens, Florida, claimed that her son passed away in May of 2023 after suffering from a serious head injury and seizures for two and a half years as a result of the accident.

But the company said that the child caused his own injuries by being 'inattentive' and failing to pay attention to where he was going during day five of the civil trial on Tuesday.

'Walmart is not liable for the incident as the stock cart was so open and obvious that S.A. should have been reasonably expected to discover it and protect himself (by simply walking around it),' their legal team wrote in a motion for summary judgement said. 

'S.A. failed to use his senses and was walking while looking backward, therefore he did not observe the open, obvious and innocuous stock cart.' 

Springer initially filed a complaint in 2022 - seeking damages beyond $30,000 for the store's alleged negligence, which she said led to her young boy suffering from extreme pain, mental anguish and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life.

The lawsuit claimed that Allen-Bey - who was later diagnosed with a seizure disorder - fell to the floor after hitting his head and had his first seizure while still in the store. 

The court heard testimonies from the boy's 13-year-old sister, Miharah Allen, and Walmart attorneys during trial on Tuesday. 

Allen, who was present when it happened, told the court about the seizures her brother endured in the years after the accident. 

'He would shake a lot and he would look in a different direction, and then he would shake and make noise too,' Allen said.

'Every time he ate, he would throw up, he would throw the food up or use the bathroom on himself,' she added.

But her testimony came just as Walmart attorney's questioned whether or not the accident was the reason for his diagnosis and ultimate death three years later.

The motion filed by the company in June of this year noted how a stock cart is so not inherently dangerous that it doesn't constitute as a dangerous condition.

They also mentioned how one angle of the store's surveillance footage depicted the boy running out of the frame and down the aisle seconds before the accident occurred - despite the accident itself not being visible.

Their filing also noted how Allen previously testified telling her brother to watch out for the cart as he was looking backward but that it was too late.

'Here, unfortunately, S.A. was inattentive and failed to walk around a stock cart's handles that were observed by his sister, who was not walking with her head turned.'

Despite placing the blame on the dead child, the company's summary judgement request was ultimately rejected by the court, Newsweek reported.

In addition to maintaining their innocence, Walmart is also planning to dispute the claim that the 2020 injury led to his death. 

Allen-Bey was described as a 'King that the world deserved but wasn't ready for' in his obituary.

He was also painted as a young boy with extraordinary talent in art.

'He often made origami birds and drawings for our friends and even random people he came in contact with,' the obituary read.

'His eyes and smile lit the entire universe! He did everything with the utmost pride and precision. We all told him how brilliant and genius he is and how his talents will only get greater.'