Wrongful Death Suit Filed Over Runway Death After Asiana Crash

The parents of a teenage girl who was run over and killed by emergency vehicles after an Asiana Airlines crash landing at the San Francisco airport filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, saying rescuers were reckless and poorly trained.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the parents of Ye Meng Yuan, 16, allege that San Francisco firefighters and police responding to the crash failed on multiple fronts to properly rescue the teen.

Gan Ye and Xiao Yun Zheng live in China. Their daughter was planning to visit Google and Stanford University with her friend, Wang Lin Jia, 16, before traveling to Southern California to attend a Christian summer camp.

Asiana Plane Crash (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Asiana Plane Crash
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Both girls were sitting in near the rear of Asiana Flight 214 when the plane clipped a seawall on approach, snapping off the tail. Wang also died along with another young Chinese passenger, Liu Yi Peng, 15.

Ye was laying on the ground near the wreckage of the July 2, 2013, crash when she was run over by two vehicles. The San Mateo County coroner concluded that the vehicles killed Ye.

The lawsuit alleges that Ye was “lying helpless on the ground” after the crash, but rescue workers “inexplicably, failed to evaluate her condition, treat her, mark her location, or remove her from the perilous location where she lay curled in the ‘fetal position.'”

The lawsuit was filed in San Mateo County Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

San Francisco city attorney spokesman Gabriel Zitrin declined comment.