Unsurprisingly, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee is being sued for an alleged sexual assault from back in 2003… on a helicopter, no less.
Rolling Stone reports that a woman identifying herself as Jane Doe filed the suit on December 15 accusing Lee of “forcibly groping, kissing and penetrating her with his fingers, and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation” while flying from San Diego County to Van Nuys, CA in February 2003.
Doe is alleging she was friends with helicopter pilot David Martz and had known him since 2002. She agreed to go on the trip in February 2003, and when she got there, she was told she’d be riding with Lee instead of traveling on her own. She also claims that Martz began mixing drinks as soon as they were in the air, and that Martz and Lee were also smoking weed and doing cocaine. Doe was staying sober, and she claims Martz told her to “just relax.”
Next, after the partying had been going on for a while, she claims she was told to sit on Lee’s lap in the cockpit to “get the best view.” She allegedly felt pressure to do so, and when she complied, was sexually assaulted
“At one point, Lee penetrated plaintiff with his fingers while fondling her breasts. Lee then pulled down his pants and attempted to force plaintiff’s head toward his genitals. By this point, plaintiff was in tears, but she had nowhere to go—She was trapped with little mobility to leave the cockpit,” claims an excerpt from the suit.
The suit goes on to say that Martz then took Doe back to San Diego County after dropping Lee of at his destination. Doe claims that she and Martz spoke briefly in 2009 about the incident, and Martz has since died at an accident in Cessna in August 2015. Rolling Stone claims Martz had a trackable history of flying under the influence and was detained on suspicion of DUI in 2009. He lost his pilot’s license three times throughout his career and was also accused of falsifying his FAA medical certificate related to 2013 and 2014 driving convictions.
Doe is suing for sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. The lawsuit names Mayhem Touring, Tommy Lee Inc., A Natural High Helicopters, and Social Helicopters as defendants.
Our hearts go out to victims of sexual assault, and we hope this suit ends up bringing the justice that is due.