Family of city employee killed on duty at Austin airport sues ground services company

The scene immediately after a fatal crash involving a fuel storage vehicle at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport this autumn was frantic as nearby workers tried to get help for the injured city employee. 

“Somebody got hit by the fuel truck. He’s got injuries real bad. I need EMS ASAP,” the caller told a dispatcher the morning of Oct. 31, according to a recording of the 911 call obtained by the American-Statesman.   

A short time later, the employee with the city’s Aviation Department — later identified as Michael Wills — was pronounced dead, dispatch records show. He was 68.

In November, Austin police determined the death was accidental. Their findings might be informing an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the workplace death — the second on-duty death at Austin's airport this year.

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Two of Wills' adult children filed a lawsuit Monday seeking compensation for damages, accusing a ground service company, Menzies Aviation, and the driver of the fuel storage vehicle of negligence. The lawsuit, filed in Travis County state District Court, claims "grossly negligent" acts by Menzies Aviation led to the death.

Representatives for Menzies Aviation declined to comment or answer questions, including whether the driver remained employed, citing the ongoing litigation. The person identified as the driver in the lawsuit did not respond to a request for comment.

Photos obtained by the Statesman in November show the fuel storage vehicle bore the logo of Menzies Aviation on its side. Menzies Aviation is one of more than a dozen companies conducting ground service operations at the airport.

The circumstances of the crash are unclear. Earlier this month, when the Austin Police Department said it had concluded its investigation, the Statesman submitted a Texas Public Information Act request for the full police report. The newspaper's request was still pending last week.

The driver, the lawsuit claims, had staged the fuel storage vehicle in an "unauthorized and unsafe" location while waiting for an incoming aircraft to arrive and begin refueling. Prior to the fatal crash, Wills had asked the driver to move the vehicle. The driver became "angry and irritated" at the request, according to the lawsuit.

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The city-owned airport has regulations and rules for all vehicles driving where aircraft make movements, including taxiways, runways, the ramp and apron. In a statement, airport spokesperson Sam Haynes declined to state if where the fuel storage vehicle was located at the time of the crash was an unauthorized area, citing the ongoing OSHA investigation.

Wills, who was wearing the required safety gear, including a reflective safety vest, was unable to return to his Chevrolet pickup before the fuel truck's driver "moved his vehicle at an unsafe rate of speed" and struck Wills, pinning him between the fuel vehicle's wheels and the bed of the pickup, according to the lawsuit.

Rather than stopping, the driver, the lawsuit states, continued to drive forward, crushing Wills further. The driver's conduct was performed "with full knowledge that the fuel truck did not have the radius to be able to easily separate from the Chevrolet," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states Menzies Aviation failed to properly train its employees, including the driver, and implement a comprehensive safety plan.

"Defendants were subjectively aware of the risk involved, but nevertheless proceeded with conscious indifference to the right, safety and welfare of others, including Decedent Michael Wills," the lawsuit states.

An obituary for Wills, published in a newspaper in Palm Springs, California, where he had worked at the local fire department for 31 years and reached the rank of captain before retiring, states: “More than his professional achievements, Mike was a loving father, a devoted grandpa, and a cherished friend. His integrity, kindness, and humor left an enduring mark on all who had the privilege of knowing him.”