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 Ye Mengyuan, a 16-year-old passenger from China, survived the
initial impact of the July 6 crash only to be struck and killed by
an emergency vehicle as she lay near the wreckage of the first fatal
commercial airplane crash in the United States since February 2009.
The newly released footage has reignited controversy over Ye's
death, which a California prosecutor said was accidental and that
the girl's body was hidden by foam on the runway when she was struck
after the crash, which killed three people and injured more than
180.
One video, first released by CBS News late on Tuesday, shows a
firefighter pointing to Ye, who appeared motionless in a patch of
dry grass without no foam nearby. Another video shows a firefighter
flagging down a fire truck headed toward the plane.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, stop, stop!" the firefighter shouted before
the driver stopped and opened his door to talk. "There's a body
right there, right in front of you," the firefighter said. About 15
minutes later, Ye was run over, CBS reported.
Cameras mounted on the helmet and truck of first responders captured
the footage. CBS reported that the videos were obtained from a
source close to Ye's family.
San Mateo District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe declined in October to
file charges against the first responders, saying that the girl's
body had been covered with firefighting foam when she was hit and
that the crash aftermath was "dramatically chaotic."
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This month, Ye's family filed a wrongful death civil claim against
the city of San Francisco, alleging gross negligence. The district
attorney's office declined to comment on the case or the new videos.
According to the family's claim, two San Francisco firefighters saw
Ye lying on the ground and alerted a supervisor, but they were
instructed to move on and failed to mark her location.
Family attorney Justin Green told CBS that the family is seeking
accountability. "They want to know why weren't the firefighters
trained, why weren't the supervisors certified and why hasn't the
fire department come clean about what happened?"
The San Francisco Fire Department also declined to comment, saying
it would wait for the close of a National Transportation Safety
Board investigation before commenting on the case.
"The NTSB investigation is still ongoing, and we're being fully
cooperative with that," fire department Mindy Talmadge said.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Gunna Dickson)
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