Disneyland Employee Dies After Golf Cart Accident

Club 33 at Disneyland

Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

A Disneyland employee died Friday after she suffered a head injury in a golf cart accident, the Anaheim Police Department confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

The employee, identified as 60-year-old Bonnye Mavis Lear in reports citing the Orange County Coroner’s Office and Disneyland, fell from a moving golf cart and struck her head on Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said. Lear was a passenger in the cart and the driver wasn’t injured and no drugs or alcohol are suspected, according to TMZ.

Lear was taken to a local hospital in grave condition and died from her injuries on Friday, according to the police.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of Bonnye and offer our sincere condolences to everyone who cared for her,” Disneyland Resort president Ken Potrock said in a statement. “At this time, we are focused on supporting her family and our castmembers through this tragic event and making sure they have the resources they need.”

Lear supported membership services at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33 restaurant and had worked for the Disneyland Resort for 24 years, a Disney spokesperson said.

The members-only elite eatery Club 33 opened in 1967 and is located near the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed last month that Club 33 is getting the movie treatment, with Goosebumps and Shazam! writer Darren Lemke writing the script for the feature set in a fantastical world about the club.

Shawn Levy is among the producers of the 21 Laps Entertainment project.

Disney California Adventure attractions castmember Rae Delgado, who didn’t know Lear, wrote on Facebook that Lear suffered a fractured skull and brain swelling from the accident.

“Bonnye was traveling on a rear-facing seat of a golf cart along with 3 passengers behind Critter Country,” Delgado wrote on Facebook. “The driver of the vehicle was driving at least 20 mph on the route. The golf cart came in contact with a bump/dip in the road which caused Bonnye to react immediately. As she went to grab the handrail, it gave way and sent her out of the vehicle. … She was deemed unconscious when paramedics arrived.”

Though doctors performed surgery, “it was beyond repair,” Delgado said, and Lear was declared “brain dead” on Thursday morning.

Delgado argued that Lear’s death should be treated with compassion and justice.

“Managers are telling CMs [castmembers] to not speak about the circumstances of Bonnye’s death to others,” Delgado wrote on Facebook. “They’re asking for silence. They want it to be forgotten.”
Degado adds, “Justice isn’t ultimately finding someone to blame — it’s rectifying a wrong. It’s taking responsibility. It’s finding out what went wrong. It’s fixing what’s broken.”