North Carolina Father dies when GPS guided him off the edge of a bridge that washed away in 2013
>
A North Carolina father of two died after his daughter’s ninth birthday party when his GPS put him in the path of a bridge that had washed away in 2013.
On September 30, Phil Paxson drove home in the rain overnight after his daughter’s birthday party in Hickory, North Carolina.
His now-widow, Alicia Paxson, had left the party earlier with the couple’s daughters, while Phil stayed behind to help clean up.
“How come this hasn’t happened for nine years, and why did it have to be him?” Alicia Paxson wondered. “Like, why shouldn’t my kids have a father now, you know?”
‘Who is responsible? Someone is responsible,’ she said.
After celebrating the nine-year-old’s birthday with a family friend, “we packed up all the decorations, he packed the van and loaded the girls into the van,” Alicia said.
“He tracked his GPS which led him over a concrete road to a bridge that descended into a river,” Paxson’s mother-in-law, Linda McPhoee Koenig, wrote on Facebook.
“The bridge was destroyed nine years ago and never repaired,” his mother-in-law continued.
Furthermore, the gateway to the former bridge had no “barriers or warning signs to prevent the death of a 47-year-old father of two daughters.”
“It was a totally preventable accident,” Koenig wrote.
The bridge was initially destroyed in a storm in July 2013.
“He turned left and I turned right, and that was his fault. One wrong turn and now he’s gone.’
Phil Paxson, 47, was a husband and father of two young girls who died in late September after his car plunged into a ravine where there used to be a bridge.
Phil’s recently purchased jeep (pictured here) flipped off the edge of a no longer standing bridge and plunged into the ravine
Phil’s recently purchased jeep (pictured here) flipped off the edge of a no longer standing bridge and plunged into the ravine
State troopers said barricades erected to warn drivers of the collapsed bridge had apparently been removed, leading to the crash
Neighbors in the area have been complaining about the bridge for years, but it’s unclear whose responsibility it was to restore it after a storm in July 2013. That issue is now likely to become a legal discussion
Phil, 47, is remembered as a father, husband and friend to many. Tribute to the father of two young girls praise his humor and goodness
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded to a report of a vehicle in a creek around 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1.
When troopers arrived on the scene, they discovered Paxson’s 2020 Jeep Gladiator upside down and partially submerged in the water.
Paxson had just bought the Jeep three days earlier.
troopers said: Barricades erected to warn drivers of the collapsed bridge were apparently removed, leading to the crash.
Paxson was found dead in the vehicle.
North Carolina State Patrol said the bridge was not monitored by local or state officials.
The area may have been the responsibility of the original developer, but the North Carolina Secretary of State’s website indicates that the development company disbanded years ago.
A local property management company has said that the previous owner was the original owner. They are meeting with lawyers on Friday to determine who is responsible for the road to the ravine.
Eric Andrews, the president of the Realtors Land Institute Carolinas chapter, said: WCNC that the muddled question of who is responsible for the road is a relatively common problem.
Original owners “could go out of business,” he said. “Maybe they die, maybe the company doesn’t exist anymore. So you can’t expect some engineer or entity to be eternally responsible for that way.’
But it is also an uphill battle to get the state to intervene.
“In North Carolina, counties don’t maintain roads. In general, owners of private roads associated with subdivisions may be the subdivision developers, a homeowners association or the owners of real estate in the subdivision,” Catawba County officials told WCNC Charlotte.
U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry (R), whose congressional district includes parts of Catawba County, also sought federal funds to rebuild the bridge in 2013 during a FEMA disaster declaration. But that plan didn’t work, and subsequent efforts to get funding to replace the bridge were also thwarted by the FBI.
Grieving Widow: Alicia Paxson wondered ‘How come this hasn’t happened for nine years, and why did it have to be him?’
“Like, why shouldn’t my kids have a father now, you know?” said heartbroken Alicia
Phil’s family calls his passing an unnecessary death and a completely avoidable accident that ended up being years in the making due to complacency over repairing the bridge
A memorial has surfaced at the site of the crash with flowers and other tributes to Phil’s memory
Phil and his now widow Alicia Paxson. Phil died Friday, September 30, after driving his new jeep onto a bridge that no longer existed.
The 2020 Jeep Gladiator Phil that he bought just days before his fatal crash. It is suspected that his GPS led him into the ravine where there used to be a bridge
Phil’s family has a GoFundMe to help cover his funeral expenses, which brought in nearly half of his $50,000 goal.
Phil leaves behind his wife Alicia, their two daughters, as well as his parents, two sisters, a sister-in-law and a large handful of cousins.
“Phil put his family first and his friends, almost immediately, second. He was bigger than life, always ready for an adventure, with a permanent smile on his face, he’d give you the shirt off his back or talk you into yours,” read part of his obituary.
At the site of Phil’s crash, a memorial has surfaced with flowers and other tributes to his memory.