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The man, Corbin Jaeger, who was 25, was killed March 28, 2017, when the two storm chasers, Randall Yarnall and Kelley Williamson, ran a stop sign at about 70 mph in pursuit of video footage. All three were killed in the crash, which the lawsuit describes as a “horrific two-vehicle collision.”
Yarnall, 55, who was driving, and Williamson, 57, were working for The Weather Channel at the time of the crash, the lawsuit says. They were seeking video of a tornado in Spur, Texas, for the channel’s show “Storm Wranglers,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The two men “had a history of reckless driving” when in pursuit of a storm and when filming, the lawsuit claims, saying that The Weather Channel was aware of this behavior and that network officials allowed them to continue working. The lawsuit claims The Weather Channel and several related defendants were grossly negligent.
The Weather Channel has a “culture of putting these guys out in the field untrained, and whatever the cost is, they want them to get the story,” Robert Ball, a lawyer for Jaeger’s mother, Karen Di Piazza, said in a telephone interview Thursday. “That’s a culture that is absurd, that Karen is interested in trying to change.”
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Jaeger was himself a storm-chasing enthusiast who had planned to pursue a career as a meteorologist, Ball said.
The Weather Channel said in a statement that it could not comment on pending litigation.
“We are saddened by the loss of Corbin Jaeger, Kelley Williamson and Randy Yarnall,” the statement said. “They were beloved members of the weather community, and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of all involved.”
The lawsuit placed a spotlight once more on the inherent danger of heading into bad weather as everyone else is fleeing. Apps on smartphones that provide real-time data have made storm chasing accessible to anyone thirsting for thrills and the celebrity that comes with posting dramatic videos on YouTube.
The litigation also showed that the threat of a hefty financial penalty can hover over networks that sponsor and sign off on what they see as riveting and adventurous — if also risky — television. Journalists and viewers have increasingly questioned the news value of having television crews stand in the middle of a dangerous storm.
Storm chasers can play a valuable role in helping to warn people about bad weather, Ball said Thursday. But he said they must abide by the law. The Weather Channel, he said, had sought to sensationalize the danger of the chase for television such that a viewer might watch and “think maybe these guys will be killed.”
The lawsuit filed this week claims Jaeger had the right of way at an intersection about 55 miles east of Lubbock, Texas, when the storm chasers’ SUV ran the stop sign and hit Jaeger’s Jeep, which was heading westbound, away from the tornado, on a rainy day. In his statement, Ball said the collision caused the SUV to catapult over a 5-foot fence, traveling 150 feet from the point of impact.
The lawsuit said employees of The Weather Channel had been warned by other storm chasers that Yarnall’s and Williamson’s driving put others at risk, and that the employees had witnessed this dangerous driving on live video feeds of their storm chasing and in editing sessions for “Storm Wranglers.” A review of 14 of the more than 200 videos on Williamson’s YouTube channel showed the pair had run about 80 stop signs, four red lights and one traffic light that was out of service, the lawsuit says.
The Weather Channel “encouraged the pair’s recklessness,” instructing them to “barrel into dangerous weather conditions to obtain footage” and setting “the stage for this tragedy,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also describes a text message conversation between a producer for “Storm Wranglers” and a different storm chaser who appeared to warn that Yarnall and Williamson were “very inexperienced” and a “liability.” Then, less than a month before the crash, the producer wrote back that Williamson had “put himself in a VERY bad spot” after being shown on air traveling over 90 mph to try to reach a storm, the lawsuit said.
“God forbid if anything happened we would have seen it happen live on air,” the producer wrote, according to the lawsuit. “NOT GOOD.”
According to the lawsuit, the storm chaser responded later that day, “I’m going to be honest with you — it’s only going to get worse,” adding later in the message, “I just hope he truly understands the risks associated.”
On March 29, 2017, the day after the crash, the producer sent a message to the storm chaser to check how the person was holding up, according to the lawsuit.
“I am obviously in a way dark place right now,” the storm chaser responded. “I tried to tell him over and over.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.