When 60-year-old Rosemary Phillips registered with “Heavenly Ride” for last month’s Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, maybe she knew something in her heart other’s didn’t.
During the descent, her balloon’s wires became tangled with utility lines. The balloon pilot heaved a tether to the driver of a pickup truck on the ground below, according to the New Mexico State Police.
Moments after the tether was fastened to the truck, the line snapped, jerking the balloon upward and tossing Phillips from the passenger bucket. Witnesses on the ground said Phillips was waving her arms and screaming as she crumpled onto the dusty dirt lot. Paramedics tried to revive Phillips but could not. Doctors at the University of New Mexico Hospital pronounced Phillips dead a short time later.
After Phillips was thrown, the balloon drifted over Interstate 25 and crash landed in a vacant lot where balloons regularly land. Two passengers suffered broken legs while a third had minor injuries. All three are plaintiffs in the suit.
The parent company, Rainbow Ryders, has been in business 24 years without an incident. Phillips’s sister filed the wrongful death lawsuit less than a month after her sister’s death. The suit, in part, states: “. . . the defendants are directly liable for their intentional, reckless and negligent acts." Winds on the morning of the crash didn’t prevent balloon launches but wind speed increased as the day progressed.
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