The family of a Mason City soldier who was killed when an Army helicopter crashed into a television tower is suing the tower’s owners. Thirty-two-year-old David Gardner Junior and six other soldiers died in the November 2004 crash when the helicopter apparently struck the cables supporting a TV transmission tower near Waco, Texas.
The crash was on a foggy morning as the soldiers were being transported to the Red River Army Depot near Texarkana. The tower’s flashing red warning lights were disabled after a storm passed through the area the week before. The lawsuit filed this week in McLennan County District Court says that Centex Television Limited Partnership is responsible for the crash since they should have known the tower lights were malfunctioning.