Final settlement reached after 5-year-old’s death in Bluffton Christmas parade
The parents of a 5-year-old boy who tragically died during a Bluffton Christmas parade have reached a settlement with the last remaining defendant, ending a yearslong legal battle. Ameer Frazier was killed Dec. 7, 2019, near the closing of the Town of Bluffton’s annual Christmas parade. He was on a float for the Bluffton Bulldogs, a nonprofit that offers football and cheerleading programs to local youth. Ameer participated in its football team. As the float turned into the parking lot of Red Cedar Elementary School at the end of the parade route, Ameer and another child “lowered their feet so their shoes would drag on the pavement,” according to the wrongful death lawsuit.
The driver then stopped the truck and “suddenly” pull forward, causing Ameer to fall to the pavement, the suit said. As the truck continued forward, the trailer ran over the child. He was pronounced dead shortly after at Savannah’s Memorial Health University Medical Center.
The $110,000 settlement will come from Houston Casualty Company, an insurer for the Bluffton Bulldogs. A settlement approval order was filed Thursday in Beaufort County’s court records system.
Ameer’s parents, Tiffany Latrice Ford and Thaddeus Frazier, will pay a third of the settlement, roughly $36,000, to their attorneys for legal fees, according to court documents.
The initially filed lawsuit in June 2021 named several other defendants, including the Town of Bluffton, the driver of the pickup truck pulling the float and his wife, who as a Bulldogs employee helped organize the group of children and parents to participate in the parade.
Court records show the Town of Bluffton agreed to pay a $90,000 settlement from the South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund in August 2022 and was dismissed from the lawsuit. The husband and wife, David and Kirsten Swiger, followed suit with a $200,000 settlement from their insurance fund.
Ameer attended Michael C. Riley Elementary School. He loved football and running, his family members said.
“He had a smile that could light up a room,” his aunt, Carletha Frazier Singleton, said. “He was always a happy little boy.”
