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A new lawsuit alleges that Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee sexually assaulted a woman in the cockpit of a helicopter after she was “lured” into the helicopter by the musician's private pilot.
In the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles, the Jane Doe plaintiff accuses Lee of “forcibly groping, kissing, penetrating, and attempting to perform oral sex on her” during the 40-minute drive from San Diego County to Van to force copulation”. Nuys, California, February 2003.
The new lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, says the woman met the pilot, named David Martz, around early 2002 when he visited the San Diego bank where she worked as a teller. The two struck up a friendship and occasionally met for lunch at a restaurant called Casa Machado, the filing said. Martz invited the woman to ride in his helicopter, but she was initially hesitant because she had never flown in one before, the lawsuit says. Eventually, the woman agreed and met Martz at an airfield in early 2003 for what she said was a sightseeing tour of San Diego County, she says. Upon arrival, the woman claimed she was told there had been a last-minute change of plans and that she and Martz Lee would be flying to Los Angeles instead.
“Within minutes of being in the air, Martz pulled out the alcohol he had stored in the helicopter and began mixing drinks,” the complaint states. The woman says Martz gave her a drink that she didn't drink. She claims Martz and Lee drank, smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine during the flight. At one point, Martz asked her over the helicopter's headphone system why she wasn't drinking and explained that she should “just relax,” the lawsuit says.
The woman claims Martz eventually ordered her into the cockpit so she could sit on Lee's lap to get the best view. She felt “immense pressure” and gave in, the filing says. Almost immediately, Lee began groping and kissing her, and when she tried to pull away, “he just became more forceful.”
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“At one point, Lee penetrated the plaintiff with his fingers while caressing her breasts. Lee then pulled down his pants and attempted to push plaintiff's head toward his genitals. At that point, the plaintiff burst into tears, but she had nowhere to go – she was trapped and had little mobility to exit the cockpit,” the lawsuit states. The woman claims Martz “just observed” the alleged attack and said nothing to her as they flew back to San Diego after dropping Lee off in Van Nuys.
The plaintiff says she had no contact with Martz for several years but spoke to him by telephone in June 2009 when he called to chat. The conversation was very brief, and then Martz died in a Cessna accident in August 2015, the filing says.
The woman says the alleged attack caused her “great shock, distress, humiliation, shame and guilt” and that she did not report it because she believed it was an isolated incident and the police would not take her seriously. She now believes that Martz and Lee “have a history of engaging in lewd and illegal conduct on Martz's helicopter,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Neville Johnson, Douglas Johnson and Melissa Eubanks, alleges sexual assault, gender-based violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. In addition to Lee, Mayhem Touring, Tommy Lee Inc., A Natural High Helicopters and Social Helicopters are also named as defendants. The woman is seeking damages for past, present and future damages, including, but not limited to, medical expenses, loss of earnings and loss of earning capacity.
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Attempts to reach a representative for Lee were not immediately successful Friday evening.
The new lawsuit is not the first time Martz has been accused of flying under the influence. The Associated Press reported in 2009 that the pilot was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he allegedly flew too close to a police helicopter and failed to follow instructions from the flight control tower at Van Nuys Airport. He was released without arrest after a field sobriety test yielded no results.
After Martz's death in 2015, the Los Angeles Times reported that he had lost his pilot's license three times in the past, with one of the revocations stemming from allegations that he had oral sex with an adult film star while flying a helicopter. The pilot was charged with reckless operation of an aircraft in 2006 after landing a helicopter on a public road in the Hollywood Hills to pick up Lee for a Nine Inch Nails concert, The Times reported.