Comair passengers blamed in crash [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Louisville Courier-Jorunal

An attorney representing the co-pilot of Comair Flight 5191 has claimed that passengers were partly to blame for their own deaths in the August 2006 crash in Lexington, though that claim won't be used in court.

William Johnson, an attorney for First Officer James Polehinke, the only survivor of the crash, which killed 49 people, made the claim in response to questions from a plaintiff's attorney about Polehinke's potential defenses in a federal lawsuit stemming from the incident.

The argument was that the 47 passengers should have known of dangerous conditions at Blue Grass Airport, including the need to improve runway conditions.

Johnson said last night that after researching the matter, he decided to withdraw that as a defense for Polehinke.

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In response to questions asking for an explanation of this possible defense, Johnson said that passengers "should have been aware of the dangerous conditions that existed" at the airport on the day of the crash, "in that there had been considerable media coverage about the necessity of improving runway conditions at the airport."

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/NEWS01/801250424/1008

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Well that would've been a dumba** defense! The crew who wasn't paying attention and took off down an unlit runway were to blame as well as the FAA for an understaffed tower and the airport for not making their construction clearer to air crews.

On edit more extensive story on this: http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/297109.html