PHILADELPHIA – A wrongful death lawsuit has been brought on behalf of a man who worked at Philadelphia International Airport and was fatally stabbed after a conflict with a co-worker.
Tamara Pryor (as administrator of the Estate of Aaron Jenkins) of Philadelphia initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 8 versus the City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia International Airport, both of Philadelphia, Worldwide Flight Services, Inc. of Jamaica, N.Y. and Frontier Airlines, of Denver, Colo.
The case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Nov. 5, due to the claims at issue and diversity of citizenship between the parties.
“Aaron Jenkins was pronounced dead on May 3, 2018 at Presbyterian Hospital from a stab wound. Jenkins was a 28-year-old resident of Philadelphia County, residing at 126 West Roselyn Street, Philadelphia, PA 19120. Plaintiff brings this suit as Administrator of the Estate of Aaron Jenkins, as personal representative of Aaron Jenkins,” the suit states.
“At all times relevant to this cause of action, plaintiff was an employee of Frontier and Worldwide Flight Services during his employment at Philadelphia International Airport in the City of Philadelphia. During plaintiff’s employment with defendants, it was custom for other employees to enter Philadelphia International Airport, as well as the terminals, without going through security checks. Due to defendants’ custom, airport employees bypassed security and lack thereof, and were permitted to enter the airport and terminals with prohibited weapons.”
Once inside Frontier Airlines’ terminals, defendants’ employee, Kevin Emanuel, bypassed security with a knife and stabbed Jenkins in his leg, resulting in his death.
“During employment, employee Kevin Emanuel bullied and tormented the plaintiff with no relief from defendants. After the stabbing, employees at Philadelphia International Airport became more concerned for their safety. Defendants’ conduct caused the safety measures at Philadelphia International Airport to decrease and put plaintiff’s safety, and the public’s safety at stake who make up 30,000,000 visitors who utilize the airport’s services annually,” per the suit.
“Based on defendants’ conduct, they failed to ensure Jenkins’ safety at his place of employment by: (1) Failing to ensure there were security checkpoints for visitors at Philadelphia International Airport; (2) Failing to ensure there were security checkpoints for airport staff; (3) Failing to investigate the lack of safety of the employees, after defendants were put on notice that weapons were prohibited on entering the airport; (4) Failing to train and supervise employees on airport security policies; and (5) Failing to protect Jenkins from the injury he endured at defendants’ facility resulting in his death by his co-worker.”
For counts of survival, wrongful death, negligence and violation of both the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act, the plaintiff is seeking actual, special, compensatory, incidental, consequential and punitive damages, costs of suit, attorney’s fees and such additional or further relief as the interest of justice may require, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Mu’min F. Islam of MFI Law Group, in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia-based defendants are represented by Michelle E. Turner of Bennett Bricklin & Saltzburg, plus Kristi A. Buchholz and William J. Taylor Jr. of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, also in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-05532
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 200500110
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com