This story was first published in Thursday’s print edition of the Daily Post. If you want to get all of the local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings.
BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
The parents of an Atherton educator who was died after he was hit by a garbage truck while riding his bike have filed a lawsuit against the company.
Michael Taylor and Kristry Roos-Taylor, parents of Dylan Taylor, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court.
“We hope that there will be accountability for his life, a legacy to him in that these trucks will be more safe for our com-munity,” their attorney Mary Alexander said during a press conference Wednesday.
Day of the crash
Dylan Taylor, 30, who was a paraeducator for the Las Lomitas School District and sports coach at Menlo-Ather-ton High School, died while riding his bike through the intersection of Middlefield Road and Prior Lane in Atherton on May 7. He was taken to Stanford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Dylan was a beloved son, brother, grandson, uncle and friend who was a coach, a mentor, an educator of children with special needs and so much more,” Kristry Roos-Taylor said. “The day he was killed was the worst day of our lives. I’m continually haunted by the words of the doctor telling us he had died.”
The lawsuit states that the driver of the truck, Rogelio Espinosa Madriz, did not stop after he hit Taylor.
Bad management
Green Waste Recovery has “carelessly and negligently” managed the incident after Madriz hit Taylor, the lawsuit states.
Alexander said GreenWaste Recovery has not been properly hiring, training or supervising their workers who drive trucks that weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds.
Madriz did not get enough training to drive a truck, and GreenWaste Recovery was in the wrong for allowing him to drive in an area with high traffic and bicyclists, the lawsuit states.
GreenWaste responds
“The safety and well-being of the communities we serve is central to our mission. We are taking this matter seriously and we are continuing to cooperate fully with local authorities to support their investigation,” GreenWaste spokesman Patrick Harbison said in an email about the incident, but said he would not comment on the lawsuit.
Alexander said Greenwaste Recovery has a history of accidents with cars, pedestrians and bicyclists.
“We believe that GreenWaste is responsible for the wrongful death of our son. It’s our expectation that GreenWaste accepts this responsibility and (will) improve their training, their hiring and their supervision of their employees, so that tragedies such as this never happen again,” Michael Taylor said at the news conference.
After Dylan Taylor’s death, Michael Taylor and Kristry Roos-Taylor invited the community for a memorial on May 18.
They said they felt overwhelmed seeing the community gathered together for their son and seeing the impact he has had on the district and its students.
What a tragedy! Why didn’t he stop and wait for the truck to turn?