SAN FRANCISCO — A veteran San Francisco firefighter who was blamed for running over a teenage passenger who was thrown from the wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 is suing her department, alleging she was made a scapegoat for larger failures in responding to the July 6 crash at San Francisco International Airport.
Elyse Duckett, a 24-year veteran firefighter who is still with the department and is the longest-serving firefighter at SFO, alleged in a lawsuit Friday that onboard video shows that a 120,000-pound, San Francisco Fire Department Aircraft Rescue Firefighting rig twice ran over 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan before Duckett’s rig ran over the girl. Yet only Duckett’s name, home address and phone number were released to the media by unknown department officials.
“The sacrificial lamb selected was 24-year veteran firefighter Elyse Duckett, a lesbian and woman of color who helped pioneer desegregation efforts in the SFFD,” according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court. “Despite having video evidence that Ye Meng Yuan was first blanketed in foam and then run over by another vehicle, the SFFD attempted to pin the blame for Ye Meng Yuan’s death solely on Elyse Duckett. In furtherance of their attempt to scapegoat Elyse Duckett and to draw attention away from the failings of leadership, training, triage and communications during the response, the SFFD leaked allegations to the news media describing Plaintiff as solely responsible for the death of Ye Meng Yuan.”
The San Mateo County coroner ruled in July 2013 that Ye initially survived the crash but died from multiple blunt injuries consistent with being run over by a vehicle.
San Francisco fire officials said they had no comment on the lawsuit. Duckett made similar allegations in a claim that was rejected by the city, paving the way for Friday’s lawsuit.
Asian Airlines Flight 214 was trying to land at SFO on a clear morning following a nearly 11-hour, overnight flight from Seoul. The tail of the Boeing 777 slammed into a sea wall that abuts Runway 28 Left, sending the plane careening down the runway where it burst into flames, leaving more than 180 of the 291 passengers and crew with injuries.
Ye was sitting near the back of the plane along with two other teenage girls who also died. It’s never been explained how her body ended up on the tarmac near the left front of the plane, where she was run over.
Duckett’s lawsuit says the firefighter who drove the original rig that ran over Ye — Rescue 10 — was never interviewed while Duckett was twice “interrogated” by fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and other high-ranking officials — even after Duckett told her superiors that onboard video clearly showed that Rescue 10 rig first ran over Ye.
Duckett’s lawsuit alleges she was pinpointed for blame partly because of her history fighting for equal rights for women and minorities after she joined the department in 1989 as part of a court-ordered consent decree to diversify its ranks.
The suit also names several high-ranking fire officials who responded to the crash scene who lacked proper training and experience and allegedly violated department procedures that led to communication problems and delays that put both firefighters and the plane’s passengers and crew at risk.
“Elyse’s willingness to speak up regarding both the workplace environment and issues of public safety has made her a target within the SFFD,” according to the suit. “The SFFD’s efforts to place sole blame on her for the death of Ye Meng Yuan were designed to kill two birds with one stone–attempting to silence Elyse while trying to protect their own reputations by covering up the larger failures in training and leadership that led to the chaos of the Asiana 214 response, dangers that pose a continuing threat to the people of San Francisco.”
Contact Dan Nakaso at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/dannakaso.
