ALBANY, Ore. — A new $15 million lawsuit alleges a 7-year-old girl with autism was beaten and sexually assaulted by two boys inside the play facility of an Oregon McDonald’s.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, the assault happened March 4 at a McDonald's in Albany, a city about 70 miles south of Portland. The girl was in an area of the play structure that wasn't visible to her mother, who was sitting nearby, the girl's mother told The Oregonian/Oregon Live.
The mother said she heard her daughter screaming, and rushed to find two boys beating her daughter on the second floor of the play structure. She said both of the boys looked to be about 5 years old.
“Her nose was bleeding,” she said. "She was screaming. I had to pull him off of her, and I just kept screaming, ‘Whose child is this?’ It was so loud in there, no one heard me at first. And then finally the parents came running.”
The girl said the boys also inappropriately touched her, the mother said.
Michael Fuller, an attorney representing the family, said the girl also alleged that the boys stomped on her nose. Fuller said the girl’s mother reported the incident to police and the Oregon Department of Human Services.
The girl is receiving psychiatric care, her mother said.
The family is suing McDonald's for negligence, saying there should be no part of the play structure where adults cannot see or access children who are inside, KPTV-TV reported. The lawsuit also requests a jury trial.