The children of a pastor who died after a wrong-way car crash on the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway in Acton in 2013 are suing a Hollywood nightclub for allegedly returning the truck and keys back to the man accused of causing the accident even though he was intoxicated. Wanda Giles of Victorville, Kenneth Giles of Claremont, Limmie Giles of Rialto and Esther Thomas Giles of San Bernardino filed the lawsuit Thursday June 18, in Los Angeles Superior Court against King King. Their father was 77-year-old Manard Giles, who was killed about 3:30 a.m. June 22, 2013, on the northbound freeway near Escondido Canyon Road.
He was a pastor at The Answer Community Church of God in Christ in Lancaster. The complaint alleges negligence and wrongful death. It seeks unspecified damages. A representative for King King could not be immediately reached at the time the lawsuit was filed.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Bradford Pate of Burbank was allegedly drunk when he drove his Toyota Tundra south onto the northbound lanes. Pate’s truck hit Gile’s Chrysler 300 head-on and then rolled over and hit a Ford Econoline van with eight occupants, the CHP said. Giles was pronounced dead at the scene. One of his two passengers, a 47- year-old Lancaster man, was airlifted to an area hospital in critical condition, the CHP said. Another passenger, an unidentified woman, was transported to a Burbank hospital with major injuries.
The pastor and his passengers were returning from a church event in San Diego. The suit states that King King had possession of Pate’s truck keys while he drank at the club late into the night of June 21, 2013, and through early the next morning. The suit does not state whether the keys were surrendered by Pate to valet operators or other employees while he was at the Hollywood Boulevard establishment.
However, the truck and keys were returned to Pate as he left, the suit states. The suit alleges King King was negligent for “allowing a policy of returning vehicles and …. the vehicles’ keys to intoxicated persons, thereby allowing them to operate a vehicle,” causing an unreasonable risk of harm to the public of which the club should have been aware.
