The owner and CEO of Impact Plastics Inc. says he didn't break any law or show reckless disregard when flood waters from Hurricane Helene swept through an Erwin, Tenn., industrial park as employees fled, killing six people.
Alexa Peterson, the daughter of one of the victims, 55-year-old Johnny Wayne Peterson, filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the injection molding business and Gerald O'Connor Jr., its owner and CEO, on Oct. 14 in Unicoi County, Tenn.
Peterson, a father of four and Impact employee of 35 years, sent dramatic texts and videos to family members on Sept. 27 as the nearby Nolichucky River swelled from heavy rains and filled the industrial park and business.
When the factory lost power at 10:39 a.m., Impact management began to shut down operations and direct people to go home, according to legal responses to the lawsuit filed Dec. 16 on behalf of the company and owner.
Peterson "took responsibility" for completing the shutdown of the plant then went to an office area to help O'Connor and others try to save computers and other electronic equipment, the defense responses say.
"After briefly getting trapped inside as the floodwaters rose, Mr. Peterson found an exit and helped the others to safety on to the railroad tracks behind the building. They were the last people to leave the factory," the legal responses say. "Rather than staying to be picked up with the others, Mr. Peterson went back across the flooded parking lot to where people had moved their cars and were congregating. He told the people he had just helped out of the factory not to follow him because it was too dangerous."
What happened next isn't entirely clear, the legal filings say.
"The main road out of the industrial complex was impassable a short time after the power went out but Impact employees and others continued to exit in the other direction either onto the interstate or over the railroad tracks for more than an hour after Impacts' employees were directed to go home," the defense filing says. "The road was still passable either by car or on foot until a short time after 12:00 p.m. Impact has not yet determined why a small number of people chose to stay up at the main road as the floodwaters continued to rise"