The family of a 6-year-old boy killed while riding his bike along the East Bay Bike Path has filed a claim against the Town of Bristol, accusing the town and its employees of negligence in not maintaining a safe environment at the crossing of the bike path and Poppasquash Road.

At 3:30 p.m. on July 24, Mason Sterne was riding his bike north on the bike path and crossing Poppasquash Road, along with his father, siblings and grandparents, when he was struck by a car driven by a 21-year-old Connecticut woman and Roger Williams University student who has not been identified. He was struck in the westbound lane, as the motorist was heading west after turning from Hope Street onto Poppasquash.

Police officers and rescuers raced to the scene, but Mason died from injuries and was pronounced dead at Hasbro Children’s Hospital a short time later.

Parents Bobbie and Amy Sterne of Somerset, Mass., through their attorneys, Donna Di Donato and Douglas Chabot of the personal injury firm Decof, Decof & Barry, filed the notice late last month, claiming “several acts of negligence” on the part of the town. They say the Town of Bristol “allowed a defect on a public roadway to exist.”

They specifically cite two areas of negligence: poor signage at the intersection and failure to properly maintain landscaping around the intersection.

First, they say the town failed to have in effect an “ordinance, regulation, policy, procedure, protocol, and/or any other requirement mandating that a stop sign, flashing and/or blinking lights, chatter strips, rumble strips and other signage be in place, visible and unobstructed to alert motorists approaching the crosswalk area on Poppasquash Road.”

Secondly, they say the town failed to “insure that all trees, branches, foliage and the like be cut back and trimmed so that the view of motorists approaching the Poppasquash Road crosswalk would be clear and unobstructed to view bicyclists, pedestrians and all users of the roadways from a reasonable distance.”

The claim states that “the negligence of the agents, servants and employees of the Town of Bristol proximately caused Mason J. Sterne’s death on July 24, 2018.”

The claim was included on Wednesday night’s Bristol Town Council agenda, but the council was not expected to discuss the matter. It was expected to refer the claim to its insurer, the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust. The notice does not specify any damages being sought from the town.

A call to the plaintiffs' attorney was not returned.