Pedal Bar Driver Ran Over Foot, ‘Couldn’t Hear Screams’ Over Loud Music, Bergen Woman’s Lawsuit Says

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A woman is suing a party bike company after her foot was seriously injured when it slipped off the pedal and was dragged several feet.

Michele Calabria of Ridgefield is suing Nashville, Tennessee's Sprocket Rocket and a party bike driver in Davidson County Circuit Court for "serious, disabling, painful and permanent bodily injuries," she suffered during a trip on one of the company's vehicles in October 2016.

Calabria's foot slipped off one of the bike's pedals, which sent her body "forward onto metals bars" and dragged her foot several feet, according to the suit.

The music on the party bike was "too loud for the driver to hear her screams asking him to stop," according to the suit. "After several high-pitched screams, the driver finally stopped the party bike and tavern."

Calabria is seeking $750,000 in compensatory damages.

The complaint cites Nashville city code that "no music or amplified sound shall be played, nor yelling or conversation be conducted, on a pedal carriage in such a manner that it would violate the Excessive Noise ordinance."

The waiver currently in use by Sprocket Rocket includes an assumption of risk by the customer and a waiver of liability against the company and its employees, though Calabria's complaint does not note if she signed such a waiver, nor is it clear from the waiver or suit if the language was identical last year.

A man who answered the phone at Sprocket Rocket's office Wednesday morning said no one was available to speak to the press.

Editor's note: Portions of this story originally appeared on Nashville Patch.

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