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Couple sues school over JROTC death

AUBURN, Maine — A Lewiston couple has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Lewiston school system over a plane crash that killed their daughter and three other people two years ago.

John and Theresa Fortier’s daughter, 15-year-old Shannon Fortier, was killed when a plane she was in crashed into a rugged mountainside after taking off from Bethel airport June 22, 2006.

Also killed were the pilot and two other Lewiston High School students who were taking part in an Air Force Junior ROTC program.

The suit alleges that program’s staff allowed the cadets to fly despite complaints that the pilot was operating in an unsafe and reckless manner on earlier orientation flights.

The suit also alleges that Twin Cities Air Services permitted the pilot to conduct the flights for the program when it knew or should have known about his “pattern of extreme and unsafe conduct.”