Bing Wang, left, stands with his son Wenxuanw and wife Xiaomei (image courtesy Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP).
The family of a man who was killed when a DoorDash driver jumped a curb and crashed into a bank in California has sued the on-demand delivery company, alleging that it is liable for the driver’s “careless, negligent, reckless and unlawful conduct” that led to the tragedy.
Bing Wang, 51, died after being struck by a black 2019 Hyundai being driven by Vladimir Tishchenko on June 7. According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Tishchenko, 36, was “in the process of handling a food delivery for a DoorDash customer” when he allegedly “lost control of his vehicle, drove up onto the sidewalk and tragically struck the Wang family before crashing into the side of a Chase bank.”
Lawyers say the family had arrived from China only hours earlier. They were walking “safely on the sidewalk” in the mid-city Los Angeles neighborhood of Carthay Circle at the time of the incident.
Bing Wang was killed. His wife, Xiaomei Wang, 48, was severely injured and had to have her left leg amputated. The Wang’s 19-year-old son, Wenxuanw, was also injured, suffering multiple broken bones.
At the time of the crash, officials said Tishchenko declined medical treatment. He reportedly stayed on the scene and was cooperating with the investigation.
Tishchenko “negligently and carelessly operated the Hyundai Ioniq by suddenly, and without warning, driving onto the sidewalk along La Cienega and crashing into the Wang family in front of the Chase Bank,” the complaint says. According to the lawsuit, DoorDash played a crucial role in enabling what the complaint describes as Tischenko’s “reckless driving.”
The defendants, the complaint says, “were acting in concert with each other by assisting, facilitating, encouraging and otherwise condoning Defendant Tishchenko’s negligent and reckless driving and as such are equally liable for Defendant Tishchenko’s negligent and reckless behavior.”
The couple’s teenage son, the lawsuit said, suffered especially damaging emotional injuries.
“Plaintiff Wenxuan Wang witnessed his father get killed and his mother suffer catastrophic injuries resulting in her leg being amputated all as a result of the DoorDash dasher’s negligent and reckless driving,” the complaint says. “To add insult to injury, Plaintiff Wenxuan Wang was also injured in the collision.”
Lawyers for the Wang family said that the family was doing no more than sightseeing safely on the sidewalk at the time of the tragic crash.
“The Wang family travelled here from China to provide a better life for their son,” attorney Robert Glassman said in a statement. “Little did they know that within hours of being here, their lives would be forever changed and torn apart by the reckless actions of a DoorDash delivery driver.”
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The Wang family seeks an unspecified amount of damages, including past and future medical costs and “pre-death pain and suffering for Mr. Wang” as well as funeral and burial expenses, the lawsuit says.
In their statement, lawyers for the Wang family noted similarities between their clients and the founder of the defendant company.
“Much like the Wang family, the co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, Tony Xu, was born in China and traveled to the United States with his parents who were pursuing the American dream,” the statement says. “He is quoted as saying, ‘DoorDash exists today to empower those like my Mom who came here with a dream to make it on their own. Fighting for the underdog is part of who I am and what we stand for as a company.””
The lawyers challenged DoorDash to live up to the words of its co-founder.
“A young man had to literally watch his father get killed and his mother lose her entire leg because of this ‘dasher’ driving fast and loose to make this multi-billion dollar food delivery company a few more bucks,” the statement also says. “The company’s CEO says he fights for the underdog and wants to empower immigrants coming to this country to make a better life for themselves. Let’s see him prove it.”
DoorDash did not immediately respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment. It was not immediately clear whether any charges have been filed against Tishchenko. Glassman told Law&Crime in an email that it is the firm’s understanding that the Los Angeles Police Department “is still investigating the circumstances of the collision,” but they have not been told whether charges will be brought.
Xiaomei Wang is in the hospital in “critical but stable condition,” Glassman said, adding that Wenxuan Wang “continues to be distraught and in disbelief about what happened.”
Read the complaint, below.
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