NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The family of a Tennessee employee who was killed by catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company he worked for, arguing that workers were forced to stay at their posts even when managers knew conditions were becoming dangerous.
Johnny Peterson was among the Impact Plastics employees who died Sept. 27 after Helene's flooding hit Erwin, a small, rural town in eastern Tennessee. Many of the surviving employees have stated they were not allowed to leave the plant in time to avoid the storm's impact. Instead, it wasn't until water had flooded the plant's parking lot and the power went out that managers sent workers home.
The raging waters swept 11 people away and only five were rescued. Two of them are confirmed dead and are part of a toll across six states that is nearly 250 dead. Four others from the factory are still missing after they were washed away in Erwin, where dozens of people about a mile away were also rescued off the roof of a hospital.
“Based on information we’ve uncovered, including accounts from surviving employees, we believe this tragedy could have been avoided,” Alex Little, an attorney representing Peterson's family, said in a statement. “Impact Plastics was aware of the flood risks, and while employees requested permission to leave, the company failed to act. We will hold them accountable.”
The suit, filed Monday, names Impact Plastics and company owner Gerald O'Connor as defendants. O’Connor's attorney did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment Tuesday.
The 28-page suit argues that Impact Plastics had no required plan to safely evacuate employees even though the plant was located in a flood plain and regularly experienced water creeping into its parking lot. Furthermore, the suit claims that while local schools and other businesses announced closures because of Hurricane Helene, Impact Plastics instructed its employees to report to work because the company “wanted to meet order deadlines."
The suit also provides a sobering breakdown of Peterson’s final moments with his family, including text messages revealing his fears that he would not escape the flood waters.
Just hours prior, the lawsuit says employees began receiving notifications around 10 a.m. urging all who could to evacuate to higher ground. At around 10:30 a.m., employees were instructed to move their cars because the parking lot was flooding.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that senior management, including O'Connor, had “stealthily exited the building” around 11:35 a.m. and employees believed they were dismissed from work. Peterson, who had stepped outside, went back into the building to help employees “trapped inside” but eventually became trapped himself after the water made it impossible to leave by car.
Peterson managed to climb onto a bed of a semi-trailer attempting to escape the area.
“Johnny knew he could not survive much longer as the water levels continued to swell and pummel the semi-trailer. He texted his daughter for the last time at 1:17 p.m. ‘I love you allllll,’ he managed to type out. This was the last text Alexa Peterson received from her father," the lawsuit stated.
“Johnny’s father tried in desperation to reach emergency services but could not. At 1:27 p.m., he asked his son ‘You ok,’ to which his son responded ‘Not for Long.’ This was the last text Johnny sent to anyone," the lawsuit continued.
The lawsuit comes after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced earlier this month that it was investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics at the direction of the local prosecutor. The state’s workplace safety office has also opened its own probe into the circumstances behind the deaths.
Impact Plastics has maintained that it monitored weather conditions on Sept. 27 and that managers dismissed employees “when water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power.”
Meanwhile, O’Connor has said no employees were forced to keep working and they were evacuated at least 45 minutes before the massive force of the flood hit the industrial park.
Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.
Personnel from Urban Search and Rescue Utah Task Force 1 continue to search for victims of the Impact Plastics tragedy in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The path for the NFL's Washington Commanders to return to the nation’s capital is clear after an on-again, off-again saga in Congress ended early Saturday with a postmidnight reprieve.
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to transfer the land including old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed by voice vote at roughly 1:15 a.m. after more than a year of lobbying and support from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., district Mayor Muriel Bowser, Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C., the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK Stadium site," Harris said. "This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”
The RFK Stadium land provision was part of Congress’ initial short-term spending bill Tuesday before it was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of whom amplified misinformation about the site on his social media platform X. Two versions of the House's slimmed-down bill, including the one that passed Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, did not include it.
Giving the local government control of the land for the next 99 years allows for the decaying husk of the old stadium to be torn down and the site redeveloped for any number of things. One of the possibilities is a football stadium and surrounding entertainment options at the franchise's former home.
Bowser called it “a win for D.C., for our region and for America.”
“Everybody loves a good comeback story — and that’s D.C.’s story,” she said.
All that awaits is President Joe Biden's signature to become law. Comer went as far as saying that Senate passage of the bill is “a historic moment for our nation's capital.”
“If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” he said. “Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the president’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come.”
Playing in Washington again is no sure thing. The Commanders are considering places in the district, Maryland and Virginia to build a stadium in the coming years.
Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.
The team played at RFK Stadium 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland. Harris and several co-owners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington football fans during that era, which included the glory days of three Super Bowl championships from 1982-91.
Part of the way the provision got into the bill initially involved an agreement between the team and Maryland to tear down the current stadium in a timely fashion and redevelop the site with a project of equal economic impact, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the deal was not being publicized.
After the Senate greenlit the RFK Stadium land transfer, Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, said they continued to believe their state's partnership with the team should continue long into the future.
“After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation,” Cardin and Van Hollen said. "We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.”
The team has played games in Maryland since 1997 and practices in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport.
A return to the district would be another victory for Bowser, who on Thursday celebrated the start of an $800 million downtown arena renovation that is keeping the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals in town. At that news conference, she took aim at Musk for sharing incorrect information on X, formerly Twitter, about taxpayers footing the bill for a new stadium.
“It was stated that the (continuing resolution) contains $3 billion for a stadium,” Bowser said. "All wrong. There are no federal dollars related to the transfer of RFK, and in fact the legislation does not require or link at all to a stadium. We’re talking about how the District can invest in removing blight.”
Musk reshared an inaccurate post saying: “Buried in the 1,547-page omnibus bill is a provision to facilitate a $3 billion NFL stadium in Washington, D.C." with the message, “This should not be funded by your tax dollars!”
The bill specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for a stadium on the site, “including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”
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FILE - A vehicle pushes up pikes of snow after trucks dump their loads of snow in the parking lots of RFK Stadium in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
