NEW ORLEANS (CN) – A lawsuit has been filed against New Orleans officials and contractors alleging their negligence leading up to the New Year’s Day attack that left 14 dead and numerous others injured. A similar lawsuit was filed earlier this month.
The 22 plaintiffs include people who suffered physical injuries, emotional trauma, and the loss of loved ones.
They say in their lawsuit that city leaders ignored indications that an act of terror such as the one that unfolded could take place and left Bourbon Street unprotected during the Sugar Bowl and New Year’s Eve festivities in their preparations and improvements for the upcoming Super Bowl, which is being hosted in New Orleans.
“The horrific events in the early hours of the new year were the foreseeable and entirely preventable result of a chain of events caused by defendants,” plaintiffs say in their lawsuit.
“For nearly a decade, New Orleans’ officials and public safety employees, along with their hired consultants and contractors were aware of the risk to the French Quarter, and specifically Bourbon Street, of a coordinated attack involving the use of a motor vehicle to strike and attack pedestrians and other members of the general public,” the plaintiffs’ lawsuit continues.
At 3:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, Shamsud-Din Jabbar raced a rented Ford F-150 down Bourbon Street, hitting dozens of people before police fatally shot him.
Survivors and witnesses, including the plaintiffs, have described the chaos and devastation of that morning — of bodies flying through the air, Jabbar’s revving truck engine and squeal of tires, the smell of blood, and piercing screams that echoed through the street.
Both this lawsuit and the one filed earlier this month note that the city has been aware of the potential of a truck attack of this sort at least since 2016 when 84 people were killed and another 434 were wounded on Bastille Day, July 14, in Nice, France, when a driver drove a box truck into a crowd.
In response to the rising threat of this sort of attack, New Orleans sought professional advice and invested $40 million in public safety improvement projects, including acquiring portable bollards — or protective columns that are designed to block vehicle traffic — to keep cars off Bourbon Street.
But the bollards were removed for construction in preparation for the upcoming Super Bowl, leaving an easy access point for a truck to enter Bourbon Street.
Additionally, the plaintiffs say, there was not an adequate police presence on Bourbon Street at the time of the attack. There was just a single police cruiser at the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal where the attack began.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit, filed by Romanucci & Blandin and Maples & Connick, names the city of New Orleans, the New Orleans Police Department, the French Quarter Management District, the engineering firm Mott MacDonald, and Hard Rock Construction as defendants.
“A night of celebration will be remembered for the terror, the tragedy, and the heroic and selfless actions of many. We seek justice from those responsible to honor their memories and to ensure it never happens again,” the plaintiffs say.
Among the harrowing stories recounted in the plaintiffs’ document, plaintiffs Elle Eisele and Steele Idelson, both university students who were in town for the Sugar Bowl, were celebrating with friends on Bourbon Street when they heard the squeal of tires and turned around to see what it was. Their two friends who were right behind them did not turn around and were run over and killed before Eisele and Idelson’s eyes.
Days later, Steele met the police officer who carried her to the ambulance. He recounted that of all the people he attempted to revive, she was the only one who made it.
Other plaintiffs, such as Keith Eldridge (60), from Connecticut, recounts rushing to get away from the truck and being toppled in the frightened crowd. Eldridge had to crawl into the lobby of a nearby business to escape because he could not stand after having his leg crushed in the crowd.
Jacob Wilson was hit by the truck as he threw himself over his wife, Crystal Wilson — both of Crystal Springs, Mississippi — to get her out of the way.
Plaintiff Justin Reiss and his partner, Nina McCracken — both of Freeport, Florida — were inside a Bourbon Street pizza shop when the attack took place. Reiss watched as the truck took out members of the crowd, only to crash into a crane, pinning a person against it.
The plaintiffs say they will carry these memories with them forever.
They seek compensation for their damages and attorneys’ fees.