Woman suing Southwest Airlines after slipping out of wheelchair at Midway Airport

A woman who slipped out of a wheelchair being pushed by a Southwest Airlines employee at Chicago Midway International Airport in May has filed a lawsuit against the airline and the city of Chicago.

Rosemary Hastings filed the negligence lawsuit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court.

On May 17, Hastings was being assisted by a Southwest employee while boarding a flight from Midway Airport to Washington, according to the lawsuit.

The employee was pushing her wheelchair down the jetway to the airplane when she began to slip and asked the employee to stop, the suit claims. But the employee did not stop the chair and Hastings was injured.

The lawsuit claims Southwest was negligent because the employee pushed the wheelchair forward down the slope of the jetway instead of backing down, and proceeded with the wheelchair at a high rate of speed. Hastings also claims the employee failed to maintain proper control over the wheelchair and did not keep a proper lookout for her safety.

The lawsuit also claims an unreasonably dangerous condition for wheelchair traffic exists at Midway, and the city has failed to remedy the situation, constituting a “conscious disregard for the safety of passengers in wheelchairs at Midway International Airport.”

The two-count lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

The city has not yet been served with the suit, said city Department of Law spokesman John Holden, who declined to comment on it Thursday evening.

A representative from Southwest Airlines also declined to comment on the suit.