ATLANTA — An Atlanta-based attorney has filed an amended lawsuit against Boeing and Southwest Airlines on behalf of a couple who witnessed a fellow passenger sucked into an aircraft window.
Tyler and Alexis Albin were on a honeymoon trip when they boarded Flight 1380 from New York LaGuardia to Dallas. The April 2018 flight took a deadly turn when an engine on the Boeing aircraft exploded, and the medical school couple watched another passenger get sucked into an aircraft window.
"We could turn over our shoulders and she was two seats over,” Alexis Albin said in a 2018 interview. “We had a straight shot. We had front-row seats.”
The victim, Jennifer Riordan, was pulled from the window by fellow passenger but attempts to save her life were not successful.
"We did about 10 cycles of rescue and CPR while we waited for EMS to get on the plane, but there was nothing else we could do,” Tyler Albin said. “It was helpless.”
The Albins have been added to a $1 billion complaint against Boeing and Southwest Airlines, filed by Atlanta-based attorney Jonathan W. Johnson. Johnson filed the amended complaint in New York last week, largely focusing on Boeing failures of the past two years that are under investigation.
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"At this point we're looking at 459 people who have been killed, and with 459 fatalities, each one of those is a disaster for some family," Johnson told Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr.
Johnson described the trauma the Albins have dealt with over the past year, saying the couple was sure they were bracing for death on that flight.
“He (Tyler) tried to help save her (Riordan’s) life and as a consequence ended up covered in her blood on his honeymoon trip,” Johnson said. “Thank God my clients didn’t die. They could have. (But) the more important thing here is the pattern of behavior in Boeing. We believe this pattern has to stop because it will continue to destroy other lives.”
More than half-dozen passengers are suing the aircraft maker and airline. The Albins join the husband of another passenger in this particular lawsuit. Both Boeing and Southwest Airlines declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Cox Media Group
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