The family of a 9-year-old Massachusetts boy who was struck and killed by a car two years ago at the ferry dock in Port Clyde has filed a wrongful death suit against the driver, the ferry company and the owners of the boat dock.

The lawsuit filed Monday by the parents of Dylan Gold in Knox County Superior Court in Rockland comes nearly two years to the day after the fatal crash on Aug. 11, 2013.

Gold’s parents, Howard and Allison Gold of Cohasset, Massachusetts, are accusing the driver, 63-year-old Cheryl Torgerson of New York City, of negligence for failing to control her 2007 Infiniti sedan when she first crashed into a building at the Monhegan Boat Line dock in Port Clyde and then into six parked cars before hitting Allison Gold and her two sons.

Torgerson’s car pinned Allison Gold, 52, against a parked car and knocked her sons, Wyatt, 8, and Dylan into the air. Wyatt landed between two parked cars; Dylan fell to the ground and was run over, according to an accident report.

Knox County District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau reviewed the case and ultimately decided last year not to bring criminal charges against Torgerson or anyone else involved.

Allison Gold was hospitalized at Maine Medical Center in Portland for more than a week after the crash. Wyatt Gold was in the hospital for two days. Several other people were also struck by the car in the crash and injured. Howard Gold was in the family’s van when the accident occurred and was not hurt.

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The Golds’ attorney, Kevin Libby of the Portland law firm Monaghan Leahy, also accused Torgerson of negligent driving for the injuries caused to Allison Gold and her son who survived.

The lawsuit also accuses the Monhegan-Thomaston Boat Line of negligence for “failure to maintain a reasonably safe premises through its failure to properly design the area, failure to erect warnings, failure to erect railing, failure to erect barriers, failure to erect gates, and its failure to otherwise channel the mix of pedestrians, motorists, bicyclists, and others utilizing the area through which access was gained to the ferry.”

It accuses the owners of the wharfs and adjacent buildings, James and Judith Barstow, of failing to keep “a reasonably safe premises.”

Police have yet to say what caused Torgerson to lose control of her car around 2:36 p.m. as she drove down a narrow road toward the ferry wharf in the fishing village, part of the town of St. George. Torgerson told police she did not know why the car accelerated.

Police said that a car with a description similar to Torgerson’s Infiniti was seen speeding through Waldoboro less than an hour before the crash.

Waldoboro police confirmed in October that the Lincoln County dispatch center received a report of a driver speeding and passing cars on the right on Route 1 in Waldoboro at 1:47 p.m. The car was described as a black Infiniti with a gold license plate, Waldoboro Police Chief William Labombarde said last year.

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The car involved in the crash in Port Clyde was a dark blue Infiniti with New York license plates. Most New York plates are predominantly yellow.

Rushlau has declined to say whether police suspect the car seen speeding through Waldoboro was the one Torgerson was driving.

Torgerson’s attorney, Robert Hatch of the Portland law firm Thompson and Bowie, said on Tuesday that he has yet to see the lawsuit and declined to comment on it.

“Out of respect for the Gold family, we feel it would be inappropriate for us to make any further public comments at this time,” Hatch said in an email.


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