YouTuber David Dobrik sued by Jeff Wittek over stunt gone wrong

A long-simmering YouTube feud has finally entered the legal system. Jeff Wittek is suing David Dobrik for $10 million in damages related to a stunt they filmed in 2020 that left Wittek with grievous injuries, according to legal documents obtained by PEOPLE.

The stunt in question involved Wittek swinging from a rope tied to an excavator that was being operated by Dobrik. Things did not go according to plan: Wittek's filing alleges that Dobrik was spinning the construction equipment at "unsafe speeds" before slowing the machine suddenly, causing Wittek to collide with the side of the excavator — resulting in "a myriad of injuries." Footage from the incident was posted to YouTube in April 2021 but has since been deleted.

Representatives for Dobrik did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Dobrik and Wittek have both been vocal about the incident in the years since. Wittek had surgery this past February ("Finally got one of these damn plates out of my eye!" he wrote on Instagram) and in March said that Dobrik had never reached out with well-wishes after the incident or any of his subsequent surgeries.

"I woke up from surgery. A day goes by, no text for him. Another day goes by, no text," Wittek said on his podcast Jeff FM. "I look at his Instagram because it's the first one that always f—ing pops up because the algorithm or whatever. It's just him like, 'Oh, I'm so happy with my life right now. My vlogs and everything,' just promoting his vlog. I was just like, you got time to do this but you can't text me and be like, 'Hey, did you go blind or not from my actions?'"

For his part, Dobrik has said the fateful incident is "the worst thing that's ever happened to me," while also maintaining it was Wittek's idea in the first place.

"He got hurt because I was driving," Dobrik said on his own podcast, VIEWS, in March. "That's it, and I f---ing know that, and like I said, any chance I would get, I would take that back… That'll be the biggest regret of my life. My entire life. I really hope there's not a moment that I regret as much as that one."

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