WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – A family is taking legal action against a trash company and one of its former employees after the worker was captured on video attacking their 17-year-old son in a van in Washtenaw County.
The family has filed a complaint against Duncan Disposal Systems and the man who was working on one of the company’s garbage trucks. Their attorney said the teen is traumatized and still recovering from his injuries.
Surveillance video reviewed by Local 4 shows a Duncan Disposal worker getting out of a garbage truck, running up to the passenger-side window of a van, and repeatedly punching the passenger.
“It’s alarming to watch someone get attacked,” said attorney David Champine, who represents the family and works with Flood Law.
Champine said the teen was riding in the front passenger seat as his mother drove him to school on March 5. The teen’s 4-year-old sibling was also in the vehicle.
According to Champine, the family pulled up behind the garbage truck and tried to pass as the truck was reversing. The worker began cursing at the mother, Champine said.
The mother responded, and so did her 17-year-old son.
That’s when the situation escalated.
“The 17-year-old was really trying to figure out what the heck was going on as he’s getting his face punched,” Champine said.
Champine said the teen suffered a concussion, a possible fractured rib, and a sprained ankle in the attack. He also said the Northfield Police Department responded to this incident.
“Not great,” Champine said when asked how the teen is doing. “The concussion, the pain he has from the possible fractured rib, and the sprained ankle, it’s impacted his ability to play sports, it’s impacted his ability to go to school.”
Because of the injuries and trauma, the family is seeking accountability from both the worker and Duncan Disposal Systems.
“We want this company’s practices of their hiring, their supervision of their employees, the training of their employees we want that boned up so that this doesn’t happen again,” Champine said.
Local 4 reached out to Duncan Disposal Systems for comment.
The owner replied by email, saying they had no statement but confirming that the worker had been fired.
Local 4 reached out to the Northfield Police Department to learn more information about the worker and the charges he’s facing.
We weren’t able to learn the charges, but the police department confirmed a “warrant was signed for the suspect” in this case.