In Illinois, a two-year-old boy lost his life last month when a vehicle crashed into the entrance of a Portillo’s, a renowned fast-casual dining chain in the state, while his family was enjoying a leisurely afternoon meal. The family is now suing the restaurant for more than $100,000, alleging that the eatery’s design and parking setup are “unreasonably dangerous” and prone to “vehicle intrusions.”

“This is a truly devastating and heartbreaking situation,” legal representative Louis A. Cairo expressed to Law&Crime after submitting the McKee family’s legal action in Cook County Circuit Court last week.

“They were seated at a table near the entrance, enjoying their afternoon around 2 PM,” Cairo recounted about the day Finnegan McKee, son of Christina and Schyler McKee, was fatally struck by a vehicle driven by a 50-year-old woman who reportedly mounted the curb and crashed through Portillo’s on July 30. According to Oswego police, as reported by local Fox affiliate WFLD, the crash seemed accidental, but investigations are ongoing.

“He’s with his parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and younger brother when suddenly chaos ensues,” Cairo remarked. “A car shatters their moment as it plows through the front entrance.”

Police reports indicate that the driver was from Canton, Michigan, at the time of the alleged collision with Portillo’s. The McKees’ wrongful death lawsuit does not specifically mention her, stating instead that the incident was due to the restaurant’s lack of a “barrier to prevent a vehicle incursion” and other safety design considerations, as detailed in the complaint.

“Portillo’s configured the parking lot so that parking spaces were positioned immediately in front of, and perpendicular to, the restaurant entrance, requiring vehicles to park head-in or back-in rather than parallel to the building frontage,” the complaint alleges.

“The parking spots immediately in front of the restaurant had no physical barriers, such as parking stops, parking bumpers, fencing, bollards or walls, any one of which would prevent or, at a minimum slow a vehicle from driving from the asphalt parking lot up onto the sidewalk and into the storefront,” the document adds. “Portillo’s situated its tables so as to locate its seated diners within feet of the glass entrance doors without any physical barriers between them and head-in parking spaces.”

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Aug. 22, Finnegan’s parents talked about their son and how it felt to lose him in such a tragic way.

“You don’t go out somewhere expecting to not come home with your 2-year-old,” Christina McKee said, calling Finnegan “perfect” and the “smartest little 2-year-old.”

“Nobody should have to go through that,” she concluded.

Cairo told Law&Crime that the family hopes their lawsuit can help save another child’s life someday, should something like this occur again.

“Some of the potential good that can come of this is would be to enact an ordinance or legislation where if you have an establishment that has a parking lot attached to it, you better make sure you have safety barriers in place that are going to protect the patrons that are inside that establishment,” said Cairo, who is a lawyer for GWC Injury Lawyers, LLC. “There better be bollards, there better be concrete blocks there to stop the momentum of a vehicle, so there’s not another family sitting at a Portillo’s, or at a Chick-fil-A, a McDonalds, enjoying their afternoon lunch with their family and next thing you know all hell breaks loose because a car comes through the front door.”

Portillo’s did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Monday.