Posted on: Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Suit filed over soldiers' deaths in Afghanistan

Advertiser Staff and Wire Reports

A lawsuit was filed in Florida last week on behalf of the families of three Schofield Barracks soldiers killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan last year.

The suit is against companies related to Blackwater, a military contractor, which owned and operated the CASA 212 aircraft, said Bob Spohrer, a Jacksonville, Fla., attorney representing the families.

The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the families of 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers Lt. Col. Michael J. McMahon, 41; Chief Warrant Officer Travis W. Grogan, 31; and Spc. Harley D. Miller, 21. All were with the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment.

Lt. Col. Jeannette McMahon, an Army helicopter pilot whose husband died in the November crash, shed tears as she discussed the suit she and the families of two other soldiers filed against Melbourne, Fla.-based Blackwater USA and its subsidiaries.

"In an instant, I went from being Mike McMahon's wife to being his widow," she said.

Spohrer said yesterday that the flight crew was "inexperienced," arriving in Afghanistan just two weeks before the crash. They weren't familiar with the route, became lost and struck a mountain. The crash was "entirely preventable and avoidable," he said.

The CASA 212, a Spanish-made turboprop, crashed at 14,300 feet on a 16,500-foot mountain near Afghanistan's western border with Iran.

Three civilian aircrew members also were killed in the Nov. 27, 2004, crash.

The suit is seeking an undisclosed amount of money, to be determined at trial.

Blackwater officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.