Posted on 08/08/2023 3:09:41 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
The plaintiff saw David Renner die while she was sitting aboard the airplane.
SAN ANTONIO — An airplane passenger who witnessed a ground crew worker as he was fatally ingested into a jet engine is suing the company that employed him after she experienced post-traumatic stress over the incident.
David Renner died June 23 at the San Antonio International Airport. His death was ruled a suicide.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit had boarded Delta Airlines Flight 1111 and was seated on the same side of the plane as the jet engine where Renner's death took place. She was looking out the window when he advanced toward the "ingestion zone" and was killed.
“She feels like she will be forever traumatized as to by what she saw by this and being so close to it," Attorney James Wood said.
The lawsuit seeks damages from Unifi, the company that employed Renner, and from Renner's estate. The damages include intentional infliction of emotional distress. It also states Unifi is liable because of negligent hiring.
Wood claimed Renner had posted online several times alluding to his mental health struggles.
“Any sort of background search on him that was appropriately looked at this person, they should have found warning signs that this might not be the right person that you want to put next to a commercial jet," Wood said.
The lawsuit also includes information from Renner's family regarding his mental health. His brother, Joshua Renner started a foundation as a result of his brother's death called David's Legacy Foundation.
The family of David Renner released this statement regarding the suit:
“We express our sincere consolations to the young lady who witnessed the events that transpired on June 23, 2023. We cannot fathom the emotional and psychological impact of witnessing this tragic event, but hope all who did receive the necessary care to facilitate healing.” - Joshua Renner, David’s Brother.
Unifi released this statement regarding the suit:
Although Unifi Aviation does not typically comment on pending litigation, we believe the claims asserted by Ms. Hill do not have any merit and intend to zealously defend ourselves. We continue to keep David Renner’s family and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers.”
The lawsuit states they are seeking more than a million dollars in damages. Wood said that money would help pay for his client's mental health services.
When I was in the Navy onboard an aircraft carrier at sea, I watched an airman back into the rotating prop of an E2C Hawkeye. It essentially cut him in half. It was freaky, but I have suffered no lasting effects
From his grieving family, no less.
President Biden: “no passenger should witness something so tragic. The federal government also has an obligation to try and alleviate the trauma of those who witnessed this horrible event.
Who do I make the check out to?”
No, it’s not. Three years ago, I watched a motorcycle race by and broadside a turning van. He was dead even though he hadn’t realized yet. I was with the guy till the police arrived. For several years every time I hear a motorcycle race by I’m waiting to hear the crunch.
I sympathize with her to some extent, but to try to make money off the airlines and especially the grieving family is just ghoulish. No one intentionally hired him because he was going to commit suicide in front of her.
people choose how long to think on some thing, or remember some thing. I spent decades stuck.
Got unstuck with God’s help after sincerely telling Him (repeatedly too) to take it out of my mind. Seemed it wouldn’t leave, then one day “all of a sudden” it did.
Occasionally it still comes to mind but it’s a brief thought and no longer holds the emotions and feelings it once did.
I won’t stay a victim in any way, to events that happen, anymore, because life is full of them. God knows each of us will have traumas. He comforts and heals us.
God is part of all true healing.
It was an accident, for Pete’s sake. The airline wasn’t negligent.
Foreseeability. No personal physical injury. Not a family member.
It was a suicide, the worker gave his watch and personal belongings to a friend before walking in front of a running jet engine.
I would say some merit if employer knew of suicidal condition of employee, it could be logically foreseen somebody could see a suicidal act in workplace. Burden of proof of it would rest on plaintiff’s lawyers. Airline itself probably not liable, but baggage company could be, depending on outcome in court.
The words are English, but the composition is a foreign language.
“No, it’s not. Three years ago, I watched a motorcycle race by and broadside a turning van. He was dead even though he hadn’t realized yet. I was with the guy till the police arrived. For several years every time I hear a motorcycle race by I’m waiting to hear the crunch.”
I have been in the Wrecker business all my life. Carnage piles are an everyday thing.
Yes, you get used to it, I get that. For me, my initial thought was how stupid the kid was and he paid the consequences. Hearing a bike race, Oh, will this be another one. I wasn’t so bothered by the blood, guts, bones, brain spillage, etc. More about the life choice. But I also see people that faint at blood, I’m sure seeing someone get sucked into an engine and spit out might be hard to take, process, and forget. Everyone’s different, which is why PTSD isn’t such a surprising extreme. Besides, maybe this person needed treatment before hand, this just confirms it.
So if she is sussessful, I’m going to volunteer at a suicide hotline and ask the person to just let me know when and where.
I would want to get a look at the movies she watches back home. And the ones she has watched on the airplane.
My guess is that there may even be nastier stuff in her refrigerator. (It is so gross and disgusting how some people live. Does that make me a racist?)
That happened on my ship in the 80s. Young man was on board the Enterprise only a few days before he died. I watched it unfold from the cctv in the CATCC. Got to watch the prop jobs as well, they’re killers too.
My drilling rig sank in a storm in Venezuela. I had no trauma and went to town and drank beer until we had a new rig. No lose of life.
My rig caught on fire off Nigeria and that did have my attention but due to an expertise was handled and the next day we were in operation. It could have been a disaster.
Piper Field disaster cost the lives of many men in the North Sea where I worked but did not know them. It effected me not but compassion for my fellow workers.
Then was the Alexander Killend disaster. 113 men went down in a storm. I knew a few. I had been on that vessel a few weeks before. It did effect me with sorrow for my working mates. It did not make me want to sue for psychological problems as I had none if I did would not sue. The Killend sinking was truly horrible. Those not captured inside the sinking rig quarter ship found themselves in the North Sea Waters. We had all trained for this, we all knew we had about 3 to 5 minutes of conciseness in that cold water if not wearing a survival suit. They knew they were dead but the lucky ones. They just went to sleep and drowned. Those trapped in the hull of the Alexander Killend went through a slow hell of death. They were the unlucky.
I only know a few of those that died. I do not even remember their names. I will never forget the Alexander Killend.
So this person knows they have PTSD after just over a month from the incident?
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