Korean student, survivor of Ride the Ducks crash in Seattle, sues

SEATTLE �� A 21-year-old Korean student who survived the deadly Aurora Bridge crash Sept. 24 has sued two Ride the Ducks companies for not fixing a potentially defective axle on the amphibious excursion vehicle involved in the wreck.tmpplchld Na Ra Yoon’s lawsuit, filed Monday, is believed to be the first lawsuit filed over the crash. It names both Ride the Ducks of Seattle and Ride the Ducks International of Atlanta as responsible for injuries Yoon sustained in the crash, and the Duck vehicle’s still unidentified driver.tmpplchld Five students were killed and dozens of others injured in the collision.tmpplchld “Ride the Ducks retrofitted a World War II vintage amphibious vehicle to take passengers on tours, and they knew in 2013 that there was a problem with its axle,” attorney John Scholbe of the Seattle personal injury law firm Herrmann Scholbe said Monday. “But that word and warning did not get to the Seattle Duck company and no repairs were made.”tmpplchld Patricia Buchanan, at attorney for Ride the Ducks of Seattle, said Monday the firm is withholding comment while awaiting outcomes of various investigations, including the company’s own.tmpplchld Ride the Ducks International also declined to comment on the lawsuit or the accident.tmpplchld Investigators have said the Duck vehicle that crashed into a charter bus full of college students had been subject to a service bulletin recommending a repair to its front axle housing assembly.tmpplchld Ride the Ducks International of Atlanta, which refurbished and sold the Duck vehicle in 2005 to the independently owned Seattle Ducks firm, has said it distributed a safety advisory in 2013 for 57 Duck vehicles operating throughout the nation, including the Duck later involved in the Seattle crash. But Ride the Ducks of Seattle did not make the advised repair, authorities have said. Investigators are trying to determine why it wasn’t made.tmpplchld Yoon, who arrived in Seattle from Korea eight days before the accident, was among a group of North Seattle College students riding on a Bellair Charters bus struck by the Duck vehicle that swerved across the bridge’s centerline.tmpplchld “She fractured both hands, she was knocked unconscious and suffered a blow to the head,” Scholbe said Monday. Yoon also has suffered emotionally, he said.tmpplchld After the accident, at least three separate investigations have been launched by the Seattle Police, the National Transportation Safety board and the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. tmpplchld Late last month, the UTC suspended operations for Seattle’s Ride the Ducks pending a full investigation of the company that included inspecting each of the 20 vehicles in its fleet. The UTC, which has alleged in a formal complaint that Ride the Ducks in Seattle operated at least one vehicle in an “unsafe manner,” causing the deadly accident, is expected to issue its preliminary findings of that probe on Nov. 3, a spokeswoman said Monday.tmpplchld Once the company’s vehicles have passed safety inspections and are allowed to operate again, Ride the Ducks will no longer include the Aurora Bridge on its tour routes, a lawyer for the company said last week.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 The Seattle Timestmpplchld Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld