San Francisco has reached a $250,000 tentative settlement in a lawsuit alleging a firefighter was wrongly blamed for the death of a teenage passenger in the Asiana Airlines crash.
The lawsuit claimed firefighter Elyse Duckett became a “sacrificial lamb” for the San Francisco Fire Department after 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan died as first responders scrambled to rescue passengers and douse flames July 6, 2013.
Asiana Flight 214 clipped the seawall at San Francisco International Airport and burst into flames on the runway. The impact ejected Ye from the Boeing 777.
Two fire rigs later struck the teenager, according the lawsuit. Ye was covered in fire-fighting foam when Duckett drove the second rig over her. Firefighter Jimmy Yee drove the first rescue vehicle. Yet, the lawsuit alleged a member of the SFFD only leaked Duckett’s name to the press as the firefighter who ran over Ye.