A mother has filed a $125m (\u00a395m) lawsuit against the Weather Channel over her son’s death in a car collision in Texas on 28 March 2017.<\/p>\n
Two of the channels’ storm chasers, Kelley Williamson and Randall Yarnall, also died in the crash with 25-year-old Corbin Lee Jaeger.<\/p>\n
But the lawsuit blames the chasers, who allegedly broke traffic laws while live-streaming their pursuit.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted the Weather Channel for comment.<\/p>\n
The suit alleges Mr Williamson and Mr Yarnall, while streaming the chase online, drove through a stop sign at about 70mph (113km\/h) and crashed into Mr Jaeger’s vehicle.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old was working as a storm spotter for the National Weather Service. The suit says he was driving away from the storm and had right of way.<\/p>\n
All three were instantly killed in the crash near the town of Spur.<\/p>\n
“Kelley and Randy were beloved members of the weather community,” the Weather Channel said in a statement after the crash<\/a>. “We are saddened by this loss and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of all involved.”<\/p>\n But\u00a0Mr Jaeger’s mother, Karen Di Piazza, has now filed suit in district court<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the lawsuit, Mr Williamson and Mr Yarnall “had a history of reckless driving when storm chasing” – running stop signs and traffic lights, driving on the wrong side of the road and making “dangerous, illegal passes of other cars”.<\/p>\n Their failure to stop at the sign was their “fourth such traffic violation that day”.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the lawsuit says, the Weather Channel allowed them to keep working despite warnings about their driving and watching the driving “during live video feeds of their storm chasing”.<\/p>\n The suit also says filming equipment in their Chevrolet Suburban vehicle “dangerously obstructed the view”.<\/p>\n According to the US Storm Prediction Center, a tornado briefly touched down in that area on the day of the crash<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heavy rain was also reported at the scene.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"