Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres is suing over injuries he sustained as a result of an Amazon cargo plane crash earlier this month.
A cleaning services worker who was severely injured during a Sept. 6 cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport is suing Amazon.com and 21 Air LLC, alleging that the defendants were at fault for the deadly runway accident..
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiff Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres and his wife on Sept. 11 in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County. The defendants also include the pilot and co-pilot of a 32-year-old Boeing 767 aircraft that landed with excessive speed and overshot its runway, leading to a collision with a van carrying Perdomo Torres and his co-workers.
“Just moments before impact, Mr. Perdomo Torres saw the enormous cargo aircraft coming towards the van,” the lawsuit states. “There was nowhere for him to go and no time to escape. The Boeing 767 struck the van at high speed, leaving it an unrecognizable heap of metal.”
Perdomo Torres was thrown into the air before landing on the ground, leading to fractures and injuries to his arm, leg and ankle, according to the complaint.
“He's going through treatment and has had multiple surgeries,” Perdomo Torres’ attorney, Pablo Rojas, told the Florida Record. “He will have more surgeries in the future. There is no timeline for him to be discharged from the hospital.”
The crash was the product of multiple acts and omissions that were preventable, according to the lawsuit. The factors included the pilots’ decisions preceding the crash, their failure to discontinue their high-speed approach and perform a go-around, training and supervision deficiencies, and maintenance issues that involve possible problems with the plane’s braking system, the complaint says.
“As a result of this preventable catastrophe, Mr. Perdomo Torres has suffered and continues to suffer serious injuries and damages, including multiple fractures, pain and suffering, mental anguish, disability, impairment, disfigurement, medical expenses, lost income and earning capacity, and other damages, some of which are permanent in nature,” the lawsuit states.
A statement by the CEO of 21 Air, Keith Winters, on the company website expressed condolences to the families and loved ones of the five people who died during the crash.
“We are cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration and local authorities as they investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident,” Winters said.
21 Air operated the flight in question based on arrangements it had with Amazon.com Services. In the wake of the crash, Amazon paused its operations with the cargo carrier, which is based in Miami.
On Sept. 9, the NTSB provided a summary of what happened based on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The summary paints a picture of confusion in the cockpit as the pilots received warnings that the aircraft was descending excessively. After touching down on the runway, the pilots appear to have considered a “go-round” but then aborted it. They passed the end of the runway at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour, according to the lawsuit.
“The subject aircraft left in its wake a trail of destruction the length of several football fields,” the complaint says.
Rojas said his law firm, Podhurst Orseck P.A., is in conversation with other victims of the plane crash. When the Perdomo Torres lawsuit gets resolved will depend on the NTSB investigation’s timeline, he said, adding that he expects many months of litigation.
“This is a significant local tragedy,” Rojas said. “I know our clients want justice and to get to the truth.”
