No prosecution for death of Chinese teen who survived Asiana air crash

The firefighter who ran over and killed a Chinese survivor of July's Asiana airliner crash in San Francisco was unaware of the girl's death at the time and will not be charged with any crimes, a prosecutor announced.

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 lying prone on the tarmac and covered in firefighting foam.

"This was a dramatically chaotic situation," Wagstaffe said in 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 from a Zhejiang school 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".