AUSTIN, Texas — The family of a man who was hit and killed during an incident at Austin's airport back in October is now suing the aviation company involved.
In a lawsuit obtained by KVUE, the family of Michael Wills is accusing Menzies Aviation of negligence after Wills was killed by a fuel truck driver while on duty at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS).
The lawsuit states that Menzies provides ground-handling services to commercial airlines at airports. Those services include preparing planes for arrivals and departures, cargo handling, fueling, and various passenger services.
During the incident, the lawsuit says a driver was operating a white Chevy fuel truck owned by Menzies when the driver started "staging in an unauthorized and unsafe area on the airport tarmac" while he waited on a plane to refuel. The lawsuit claims Wills approached the driver while wearing all required safety gear and asked him to move the truck to a designated area.
The driver allegedly then became "angry and irritated" after being told to move and drove the truck at an "unsafe rate of speed," hitting Wills. The lawsuit says Wills was pinned between a set of rear wheels and the bed of the Chevy. It wasn't until Wills screamed that the driver realized what happened, according to the lawsuit.
Following the screams, the driver allegedly kept driving forward, which crushed Wills. The driver called for emergency services, but after life-saving measures were performed for about 30 minutes, Wills was pronounced dead at the scene.
Austin police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continue to investigate the deadly crash. OSHA has up to six months to complete its investigation.
This is the second time this year that an airport or airline employee has died at AUS. Back in April, an American Airlines employee died at one of the airport's gates after a ground service vehicle hit a jet bridge.
