Family of woman killed in Broward helicopter crash asks sheriff’s office for $50 million
Miami Herald - September 27, 2023
BY GRETHEL AGUILA
The family of a woman killed after a Broward Sheriff’s Office helicopter crashed into an apartment is now asking the agency for up to $50 million in damages. On Tuesday, helicopter and aviation attorney Gary C. Robb, who is representing the family of Lurean Wheaton, notified Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis about the wrongful death claim.
Wheaton, 65, was sleeping when the helicopter crashed into her Pompano Beach apartment complex on Aug. 28. BSO Fire Chief Terryson Jackson, 50, was also killed in the crash. “Crashing a law enforcement helicopter into her home—the place where we are supposed to feel the most safe and secure—was the ultimate invasion of Lurean Wheaton’s right to live,” Robb said in a statement provided to the Miami Herald.
Robb also represented the widow of Kobe Bryant in a wrongful death lawsuit after the NBA star and his daughter Gianna were killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. In the filing, the Wheaton family’s attorneys point to a 2017 report, put together by an independent agency, that found that the helicopter “should have been replaced.” The report identified 19 deficiencies in BSO’s helicopter fleet and concluded that BSO’s maintenance practices were a “serious safety concern that requires immediate attention.”
In early September, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report that stated that the helicopter’s fire warning light illuminated and temperature gauge kept increasing shortly before the crash.
Tony, the filing alleges, previously admitted to the county commission that the helicopters were “outdated” and weren’t maintained on the recommended schedule. The helicopters were flown for 1,000 hours between maintenance — almost double the 600-hour limit. Wheaton family members, attorneys say, were also insulted by how Tony and other county officials seemed more concerned over the loss of the helicopter than of Wheaton, their loved one.
“Lurean Wheaton’s life was much more important than a helicopter,” the filing said. “If Broward County can rally so quickly to allocate $15 million dollars for purchase a new helicopter, the County must dedicate the same respect, attention, and haste to the Wheaton Family.” According to the filing, the family wants to resolve the claim as soon as possible and if that doesn’t happen, they’re prepared to sue. BSO must respond to the family’s claim within 90 days, as per Florida law.
“The Wheaton Family’s lawsuit will seek to uncover the full depth of the alarmingly deficient safety practices of BSO’s Aviation Unit, and it will expose BSO’s express knowledge of these defects—knowledge that the BSO disregarded for years by continuing flying unfit, un-airworthy, and unsafe helicopters over the heads of Broward County citizens.”
