US firefighter not charged in death of Asiana crash survivor Ye Mengyuan
Wagstaffe said he arrived at his decision after reviewing police, fire and other first responder reports, the coroner’s investigation and numerous videos of events at the scene
The firefighter who ran over and killed a Chinese survivor of a commercial air disaster in San Francisco was unaware of the girl’s death at the time and will not be charged with any crimes, a prosecutor announced on Friday.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said firefighter Elyse Duckett was responding to the burning Boeing 777 when the truck she was driving rolled over Ye Mengyuan. Investigators believe Ye was laying prone on the tarmac and covered in firefighting foam.
“This was a dramatically chaotic situation,” Wagstaffe said of absolving Duckett of any criminal responsibility. “It was not a tough conclusion to reach.”
Wagstaffe said he arrived at his decision after reviewing police, fire and other first responder reports, the coroner’s investigation and numerous videos of events at the scene. Ye, 16, was a Chinese student visiting the United States with classmates.
Wagstaffe said some of the videos show the girl on the ground outside the plane before the area is covered in foam. Other videos have shown Duckett’s rig later driving over the same area after it was covered in firefighting foam.
San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White declined to discuss Ye’s death other than to call it a “tragic accident.”
Hayes-White said in a prepared statement that firefighters likely saved the lives of many critically wounded passengers scattered about the tarmac and still trapped aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crashed landed July 6.
