Woman sues restaurant after she says ceiling collapse injured her, nearly hit toddler

ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) – A woman claimed in a lawsuit that she was injured after a ceiling collapsed on her while at a popular Orlando, Florida, restaurant.

“I know we don’t have earthquakes and stuff, but it felt like an earthquake or a sinkhole or something, but everything just started coming down on me,” Dajah Stover said.

Stover, her father and her attorneys think most people would never believe a ceiling and the air conditioning system in a restaurant would suddenly come crashing down, but it happened last Oct. 6 at Flyers Wings and Grill on West Colonial Drive.

“I just saw so much blood pouring from my head. The ambulance came and they basically saw the situation how it happened, and they saw the deep cut I had in my head, and they just said I need to go to the hospital to get staples,” Stover said.

Stover wasn’t alone in the restaurant. She was eating with her daughter, who was not quite 2 years old at the time.

“I had walked over there to sit next to her and scooted her over. So, if I had not walked there and scooted her over, everything would have hit her instead of me, and that was just by the grace of God that she didn’t get hit,” Stover said.

Stover is now suing Flyers, claiming negligence and lingering health problems from the collapse.

“It’s definitely traumatic for the family, myself and the family, to know that my daughter and granddaughter were in a situation like that,” Torrence Stover, Dajah’s father, said.

According to state inspection reports, the restaurant has been cited for violations involving “ceiling tiles and vents soiled with accumulated food debris” since 2023. Just days after the ceiling collapse, the restaurant was given a “repeat violation warning” for lack of ceiling maintenance.

The lawsuit also alleges, “In 2024, a customer was injured when a piece of ceiling fell.”

“It wasn’t until after Dajah got hit in the head and her daughter narrowly escaping injury or death that they closed down the restaurant, partially, to fix this,” Ryan Fletcher, Dajah Stover’s attorney, said.

“I couldn’t believe and was most definitely shocked that this happened before,” Dajah Stover added.

No one at Flyers Wings and Grill would comment on the lawsuit.