MERIDEN–A restaurant customer is suing the establishment after suffering injuries when riding a mechanical bull.
Steven M. Saleski, of Wallingford, is suing the owners of The Cadillac Ranch Restaurant in Southington (Meadow Muffins LLC and TCB LLC) for negligence, among other things, in relation to how they operate a mechanical bull offered to patrons to ride.
On July 6, 2013 Saleski was invited to the restaurant–described as a country dance restaurant that serves food and alcohol and features dancing, karaoke, music and mechanical bullriding. He opted to pay to ride the mechanical bull. He was thrown from the bull and hit his head, suffering injuries described in the suit as “painful,” “permanent” and “serious.
Saleski claims the restaurant was negligent in how it set up “Old Thunder,” the mechanical bull, in the sense that the launching pad was pushed up against a hard wall, leaving a dangerous set up for impact. Saleski’s suit says the restaurant should have known patrons could be thrown into the wall and yet didn’t adequately inspect the area, move the launching pad, or warn patrons of the dangers. He also says the restaurant was negligent in its hiring, education and supervision of bull operators who didn’t teach safety to patrons.
Specifically, Saleski’s injuries include severe neck pain and displaced fractures of two of his vertebrae in his lower back that extended into a fracture in his neck.
The suit was filed on January 21, 2015, and it claims Saleski has partial and permenant loss of earnings and earning potential, in addition to many medical expenses as a result of the incident.
