Lawsuit alleges Allegiant crew caused disabled man's fatal fall from wheelchair

Akiya Dillon, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Mar 23, 2026

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Relatives of a disabled Allegiant passenger filed a lawsuit Friday against the airline, alleging that the company was responsible for his death after crew members pushed him in an unsecured wheelchair, and he fell face-first.

Tony Adkins, represented by attorneys from Claggett & Sykes Law Firm, is suing Allegiant Travel Company and Allegiant Air in connection with a March 28, 2024, incident involving his son, Hunter Adkins.

Officials for Allegiant, headquartered in Las Vegas, could not be reached immediately for comment.

Hunter Adkins, 24, had lived with muscular dystrophy and was wheelchair-bound, the complaint said. As he, his father, and his 9-year-old brother prepared to board their flight at Huntington Tri-State Airport in West Virginia, where the family lives, the captain ordered ground and flight crews to hurry the process to keep the next flight on schedule, according to the lawsuit.

Adkins’ attorneys alleged that, as a result, extra wheelchair assistants who were supposed to help transfer Adkins from his motorized wheelchair to an “aisle wheelchair” were reassigned to load luggage.

The lawsuit said that federal regulations require airlines to use aisle wheelchairs — a narrower device equipped with safety straps — to safely board mobility-impaired passengers. According to the lawsuit, federal regulations also required Hunter Adkins to be assisted by two crew members.

Neither protocol was followed, the lawsuit said.

Instead, attorneys said, Adkins was transferred from his personal wheelchair to one that lacked safety straps. According to the complaint, when the assistant pushing Adkins up the ramp reached the plane door and attempted to enter the cabin, the wheelchair tipped over.

Adkins was thrown from the chair, landing face-first on the ground, according to the lawsuit. Because of his disability, he could not break his fall, the complaint said.

The wheelchair and the assistive device also landed on top of Adkins, the lawsuit said, noting that his father and brother witnessed the incident. Tony Adkins and other bystanders picked Hunter Adkins up after the fall, the family’s attorneys said in the lawsuit.

Hunter Adkins was taken to a local hospital, where he died about 15 hours later of multiple blunt force injuries, according to the lawsuit.

Tony Adkins is suing Allegiant for wrongful death, claiming the airline failed to follow federal safety rules and was obligated to ensure the safety of wheelchair-bound passengers like his son, Hunter.

“Despite being able to see how the wheelchair assistant was improperly boarding Hunter E. Adkins, crew members at the plane’s entrance did nothing to intervene to ensure Hunter E. Adkins’s safe boarding,” the lawsuit said.

He is also suing on grounds such as negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention by Allegiant, as well as the emotional distress experienced by Kaden, who witnessed his brother suffer fatal injuries.

The family is seeking damages exceeding $15,000 and has requested a jury trial.

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