In the world of weather reporting, there are a group of people who risk their lives to be up close to the storm, these people are called "Storm Chasers", and the job is a very dangerous job where the storm chasers risk their lives by driving in roads in fast speeds, or get too close to the storm or face injury from when massive hail hits their vehicles.
On May 31, 2013, the El Reno, OK tornado injured a crew of storm chasers for The Weather Channel including The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes when their "Tornado Hunt" SUV was picked by the a tornado and was tossed and turn and non one died in that one meanwhile, another crew of storm chasers from the TWISTEX, which included well known storm chasers Tim Samaras and his son Paul and Tim's long time storm chasing partner Carl Young were also sucked up in the tornado killing all of them as the tornado picked their car up, while KFOR's meteorologist Emily Sutton and storm chaser Kevin Josefy were also caught up in the storm and had the back window busted out of their storm chasing SUV in the storm while fame storm chaser Reed Trimmer (who also was working for KFOR at the time) had also been caught up in the storm and had the hood of the Dominator 2 (a special storm chasing vehicle that Reed's crew created to withstand the winds of a EF5) ripped off of it. The El Reno tornado was cited as the cause of the first Storm Chasing related tragedy in the history of the concept of storm chasing which dates back to the early 1970s.
But, 2 years ago today on March 28, 2017, the second Storm Chasing related tragedy occurred when Weather Channel contracted storm chasers Kelly Williamson and Randall Yarnall and Corbin Jaeger, a 3rd storm chaser in a different car hired by the National Weather Service was chasing a tornado when their 2 cars crashed into each other on a intersection after the car in which Williamson and Yarnall were in blew a stop sign while driving at 70 MPH collided with the vehicle that Jaeger was driving killing all 3 storm chasers instantly. At the time of the crash in Spur, Texas, there was a tornado warned storm that may had a tornado on the ground, in which the crew of Williamson and Yarnal were live streaming online, in which the second before the wreck, the screen went black, thus abruptly ending the stream. Williamson and Yarnall were not only contracted by The Weather Channel, but they also had a reality show called Storm Wrangler which aired on The Weather Channel. And the show had documented their history of wreckless driving while storm chasing.
Now, on the second anniversary of the fatal wreck, The Weather Channel is being sued by Jaeger's family for $125 million in damages for the fatal accident in which would be a wrongful death lawsuit and they filed the suit in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Tuesday. The suit claimed that the Weather Channel and several related defendants were grossly negligent. The Weather Channel's Storm Wranglers production crews are being cited due to a text sent from one of the producers and a another, unnamed storm chaser citing that Williamson and Yarnall were inexperienced and had been warned to be more careful on the roads, a warning, they gravely ignored. Also cited in said text, the producer also said Williamson "put himself in a very bad spot" for being shown going 90 MPH while chasing a storm on the air during storm coverage on The Weather Channel.
At the time of the fatal wreck, The Weather Channel was owned by NBCUniversal/Comcast, Bain Capital, and The Blackstone Group, but was since sold off to Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios nearly a year after the fatal wreck on March 22, 2018.
The Details on the lawsuit from The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/weather-channel-lawsuit-storm-chasers.html
On May 31, 2013, the El Reno, OK tornado injured a crew of storm chasers for The Weather Channel including The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes when their "Tornado Hunt" SUV was picked by the a tornado and was tossed and turn and non one died in that one meanwhile, another crew of storm chasers from the TWISTEX, which included well known storm chasers Tim Samaras and his son Paul and Tim's long time storm chasing partner Carl Young were also sucked up in the tornado killing all of them as the tornado picked their car up, while KFOR's meteorologist Emily Sutton and storm chaser Kevin Josefy were also caught up in the storm and had the back window busted out of their storm chasing SUV in the storm while fame storm chaser Reed Trimmer (who also was working for KFOR at the time) had also been caught up in the storm and had the hood of the Dominator 2 (a special storm chasing vehicle that Reed's crew created to withstand the winds of a EF5) ripped off of it. The El Reno tornado was cited as the cause of the first Storm Chasing related tragedy in the history of the concept of storm chasing which dates back to the early 1970s.
But, 2 years ago today on March 28, 2017, the second Storm Chasing related tragedy occurred when Weather Channel contracted storm chasers Kelly Williamson and Randall Yarnall and Corbin Jaeger, a 3rd storm chaser in a different car hired by the National Weather Service was chasing a tornado when their 2 cars crashed into each other on a intersection after the car in which Williamson and Yarnall were in blew a stop sign while driving at 70 MPH collided with the vehicle that Jaeger was driving killing all 3 storm chasers instantly. At the time of the crash in Spur, Texas, there was a tornado warned storm that may had a tornado on the ground, in which the crew of Williamson and Yarnal were live streaming online, in which the second before the wreck, the screen went black, thus abruptly ending the stream. Williamson and Yarnall were not only contracted by The Weather Channel, but they also had a reality show called Storm Wrangler which aired on The Weather Channel. And the show had documented their history of wreckless driving while storm chasing.
Now, on the second anniversary of the fatal wreck, The Weather Channel is being sued by Jaeger's family for $125 million in damages for the fatal accident in which would be a wrongful death lawsuit and they filed the suit in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Tuesday. The suit claimed that the Weather Channel and several related defendants were grossly negligent. The Weather Channel's Storm Wranglers production crews are being cited due to a text sent from one of the producers and a another, unnamed storm chaser citing that Williamson and Yarnall were inexperienced and had been warned to be more careful on the roads, a warning, they gravely ignored. Also cited in said text, the producer also said Williamson "put himself in a very bad spot" for being shown going 90 MPH while chasing a storm on the air during storm coverage on The Weather Channel.
At the time of the fatal wreck, The Weather Channel was owned by NBCUniversal/Comcast, Bain Capital, and The Blackstone Group, but was since sold off to Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios nearly a year after the fatal wreck on March 22, 2018.
The Details on the lawsuit from The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/weather-channel-lawsuit-storm-chasers.html
