Horror crash during 'promposal' leads to school facing $1 million lawsuit
Ben Thompson
Featured Image Credit: 12 News
'Promposals' are all the rage these days, with students' efforts getting increasingly elaborate.
If you're not familiar with the term, I'll give a quick explainer.
It's essentially how a high school student would 'propose' to their crush to get them to come to prom.
There's a lot of ways a promposal could go wrong - the person could say no for a start.
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But one promposal in Arizona went disastrously wrong and could land the school with a $1 million lawsuit.
Yikes.
Warning - this video contains footage that some viewers may find distressing:
A student at a school in Chandler, Arizona had planned to 'prompose' to his girlfriend in a set up scenario.
His idea was to speed through a stop sign in his Porsche and be 'pulled over' by the school resource officer.
As it looks like he's getting in trouble, he would have then unveiled a sign asking his girlfriend - sat in the car - to go to prom.
Admittedly, a rather elaborate plan.
And what went wrong?
He hit a fellow student on a motorcycle while speeding through the stop sign.
William Vannasap, 18, was on his way home from class when he was thrown into the air and landed on the ground.
Fortunately he survived but ended up in hospital for a severe concussion and leg injuries.
According to Local 12, after the crash William's attorney, April Speelmon, filed a notice of claim against the City of Chandler, the school resource officer, principal, and school district for a $1 million settlement.
"It's just heartbreaking even to watch that video, because in any instant, he could have passed away," said Mayci, William's sister.
"He told us that when he got hit, he let out the most blood-gruelling scream ever."
His other sister, Daisee, said: "You can see on the video the student wasn't going 15 mph in the school zone. You could tell that he was going way faster.
"That was very shocking to us."
And why is the school district being dragged into this?
Because the school's principal and resource officer reportedly signed off the promposal scheme.
In a video, that was captured by surveillance cameras, the resource officer can be heard talking to the student driver after the accident.
"Well, its private property and minimal injury," a school resource officer is heard saying in the video.
"I know, but like, I was supposed to go through the stop sign. That was the thing," the Porsche driver replied.
"Yeah? We'll talk about that later, but it's private property so I won't be giving anyone tickets or anything like that," the officer said.
The school's principal was also seen in the car of the resource officer moments after the crash.
In a police report, the officer claimed the plan had been for the student to 'roll' the stop sign, but he instead sped up.
Speelmon said the city and school district have 60 days to respond to the claim otherwise the family will file the lawsuit before the end of the month.
The district told ABC News it is unable to comment as it is a pending legal matter.
UNILAD has reached out to Chandler School District and the school for comment.