Parents of Asiana crash victim file wrongful-death lawsuit

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Firefighters, lower center, stand by a tarpaulin sheet covering the body of a Chinese teen struck by a firetruck during the emergency response to the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. Ye Mengyuan, 16, was still alive when a firetruck ran over her, the San Mateo County coroner said Friday. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)

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The wrecked fuselage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sits in a storage area at San Francisco International Airport. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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Burned seats are visible in the wrecked fuselage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 as it sits in a storage area at San Francisco International Airport. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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The wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 is moved off-site to a secure area away from the runway. (John G. Mabanglo / EPA)

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The engines and tail section from Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sit in a storage area at San Francisco International Airport. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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This combination of photos shows Asiana Airlines Flight 214 just moments after crashing at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco on Saturday. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed while landing after a likely 10-hour-plus flight from Seoul. (Dawn Siadatan / Associated Press)

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Asiana Airlines Flight 214 just moments after crashing at the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday. (Dawn Siadatan / Associated Press)

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A passenger of the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco is pushed on a stretcher after arriving at Incheon Airport, west of Seoul on Monday. (Kim Hong-Ji / AFP/Getty Images)

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The parents of Wang Lin Jia, one of two teens killed on Asiana Airlines Flight 214 react after hearing news of their daughter’s death. (AFP / Getty Images)

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The Boeing 777 aircraft lies burned on the runway after it crash-landed at San Francisco International Airport. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

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Passengers from Asiana Airlines Flight 214 are treated at San Francisco General Hospital. (John Green / Associated Press)

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Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, had been scheduled to be on the Asiana Airlines plane that crashed at San Francisco International Airport, but switched flights at the last moment. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

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Lee Choon-Hee, center, whose daughter sustained injuries as a passenger on Asiana Airlines Flight 214, arrives at Asiana Airlines’ head office in Seoul, South Korea. The Asiana Airlines flight crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, killing at least two people, injuring dozens of others and forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety as flames tore through the plane (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

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China Airlines passengers who were diverted to LAX from San Francisco International Airport after the plane crash wait for buses to take them to hotels. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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China Airlines employees work to coordinate buses to hotels for passengers diverted to LAX from San Francisco International Airport. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Investigators pass the detached tail and landing gear of Asiana Flight 214 after it crashed at San Francisco International Airport. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

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The charred wreckage of the Asiana Airlines flight from South Korea lies at the San Francisco International Airport after it crashed during landing. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

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Fire crews were on the scene after an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed on landing at San Francisco International Airport. (John Green / McClatchy-Tribune )

By Veronica Rocha

Aug. 15, 2014 3:33 PM PT

The parents of a 16-year-old girl killed by an emergency vehicle responding to the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco last year have filed a lawsuit against city and county officials, saying her death was “tragic and avoidable.”

In the wrongful-death lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in San Mateo County Superior Court, Gan Ye and Xiao Yun Zheng say their daughter, Ye Mengyuan, was hurt during the crash, left in a dangerous area and then abandoned by emergency workers as she lay in a “fetal position,” only to be run over by two aircraft rescue firefighting vehicles.

The lawsuit alleges rescue workers “failed to move her to a safe location and abandoned her in a hazardous position that subjected her to grave risk of harm.”

Her parents claim San Francisco city and county were negligent because they failed to provide adequate training and set protocols to avoid such tragedies.

Matt Dorsey, spokesman for the San Francisco city attorney’s office, declined to comment, saying the office had yet to be served with the lawsuit.

Ye was one of three people killed when the Asiana Airlines flight clipped a sea wall and slammed into a runway at San Francisco International Airport.

More than 180 of the 307 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 214 were injured in the crash.

Ye, a Chinese high school student, slid down one of the Boeing 777’s ramps, according to the lawsuit.

She was on the ground when she was struck by two firefighting vehicles, according to a report released by San Francisco airport and fire officials in January.

Coroner’s officials said Ye suffered crushing injuries and internal bleeding.

For breaking news in Los Angeles and throughout California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA. She can be reached at veronica.rocha@latimes.com.