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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Three Deseret Morning News employees injured when a Jeep Cherokee careened out of control in downtown Salt Lake are suing car maker DaimlerChyrsler Corp. over an alleged design flaw.
Chuck Wing, Gary McKellar and Keith Johnson filed suit saying DaimlerChyrsler Corp. sold the vehicle despite knowing of cases in which Jeep Grand Cherokees suddenly accelerated out of control.
Wing and McKellar were pinned against a wall by a 2003 Jeep Cherokee driven by Hossein Sepehri-Nik on Feb. 24, 2004 outside the Deseret Morning News building on Regent Street.
Sepehri-Nik was named a defendant in the case.
Desert Morning News photographer Keith Johnson and a fourth News colleague, Mark Reece, tried to free their co-workers. Johnson finally succeeded in throwing the car in reverse but was then dragged 10 or 15 feet, breaking an ankle.
Wing's left leg was amputated; McKellar's right leg was crushed. Johnson was hospitalized for a broken ankle. In court papers they say the Jeep's problems continued even after it was redesigned.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
