Tragedy struck for the Wentworth family last year in the form of a teenage girl, Snapchat, and a car accident. Christal McGee, 18-years-old, was driving in her father’s Mercedes on her way home when she decided to open the Snapchat app on her phone.
The app, which is popular for its clever filters, has a speed filter which allows users to record the speed that they are going. McGee decided that she wanted to get a Snap of her speed of over 100 mph.
Pushing the Mercedes, McGee was reaching speeds of 113 mph in areas where the top speed limit was only 55 mph. Unfortunately for Uber driver Maynard Wentworth, he happened to be in her path that evening.
McGee did not see Wentworth’s vehicle before it was too late. She crashed into his vehicle doing 107 mph. Wentworth’s injuries were extensive. He spent months recovering in the hospital and suffered from a traumatic brain injury.
Now, several months after the tragedy, Wentworth and his wife are suing Snapchat (along with McGee) for the accident. Part of the complaint that was filed in Spalding County reads that prior to the accident in September of 2015, there were other instances where the miles per hour filter had been the cause of other accidents and Snapchat had yet to delete it from the app. Snapchat had previous knowledge that the filter was dangerous but did not restrict or remove it.