Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images News / Getty Images
The family of a New York man has filed a lawsuit against Peloton after he died during an exercise routine on one of the company's stationary bikes. The lawsuit, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, says that Ryan Furtado, 32, was doing a "core" workout on his exercise bike on January 13, 2022.
As part of the routine, he got off the bike to do some exercises on the floor. When he went to get back up, he grabbed the bicycle for support, causing it to spin around and hit him in the face and neck. Part of the bike severed his carotid artery, killing him instantly.
Furtado is the first person known to be killed while using one of Peloton's bikes.
The lawsuit claims that the stationary bike is "defective and unreasonably dangerous."
"By and through the trainer on the workout instructing the user to use the Bike for stretching which rendered the Subject Bike unreasonably dangerous under foreseeable circumstances through users applying pressure on the Bike in a pulling and pushing fashion causing the Bike to destabilize and fall, and further the foreseeable misuse that people would also use the Subject Bike to pull themselves up from the floor during a workout increasing an unknown risk of injury to the user."
Peloton has denied the claims in the lawsuit and said that Furtado misused the exercise bike.
"Upon information and belief, the incident giving rise to this action was caused by the negligence or other culpable conduct of one or more parties for which Peloton is not responsible, and, therefore, Peloton is not legally responsible," Peloton said in response to the lawsuit.