High School football coach mowed down by runaway golf cart on the field sues Dallas Cowboys for $1MILLION over 'great personal embarrassment'

Willie Amendola was hit by an out-of-control cart at a football game



He is now suing the Dallas Cowboys, the owners of the stadium where it happened, for $1million

Spring Dekaney High School head coach cites 'great personal embarrassment'

A High School head coach, who was hit by an unmanned, electric golf cart at a football game, is suing the Dallas Cowboys for $1million.

Willie Amendola was in the middle of an interview during celebrations at the end of the high school championship football game when the out-of-control cart ploughed into him and several bystanders.

Spring Dekaney head coach Willie Amendola is now suing Cowboys Stadium LP for $1 million, citing the 'great personal embarrassment' he has suffered after he was mowed down.

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Suing: Spring Dekaney head coach Willie Amendola was mowed down by a runaway cart after his team beat Cibolo Steele at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in 2011

Collision course: Head coach Willie Amendola is interviewed in the path of the runaway cart

End zone: The cart took off when a field marker became stuck on the accelerator and crashed into a crowd at the stadium in Texas

The incident happened after Spring Dekaney beat Cibolo Steele at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in December 2011.

According to a law suit filed at Dallas County Court on Tuesday, Amendola states he was 'struck, without warning, by a motorized cart, which employees ... failed to exercise proper control over'.

Spring Dekaney, from Harris County, Texas, beat Cibolo Steele 34-14 during the Class 5A Divison II state championships and the coach was speaking to reporters at the 50-yard line when the cart careered into the crowd.

TV cameras showed a stunned Amendola falling backwards into the passenger seat of the golf cart as he tried to gain control of the vehicle.



A field worker managed to jump on board and turn the engine off.

The suit claims that Willie Amendola 'heroically had the presence of mind to direct the cart, which he briefly controlled, in such a manner that it avoided striking the head or bodies of numerous others who had fallen.'



Bowled over: The head coach and football supporters were caught unaware at the stadium in Arlington

On a roll: Willie Amendola struggles to roll free of the runaway cart as field workers chase it down

Crowded: The cart got loose during the championship game between Spring Dekaney and Cibolo Steele

One sports commentator said: 'We have a disturbance down the field. Apparently one of the carts on the field got loose and I think there have been some folks injured in this.

'That's like a runaway cart there. And it finally took someone to stop it. That's a scary thing.'

It was unclear how the vehicle got loose. Stadium workers had been picking up fluorescent orange sideline yard markers and pylons after the game when the cart unexpectedly took off.

According to his attorneys, Amendola and his wife, Valarie, suffered 'great personal embarrassment and mental anguish' when the video of the accident went viral.