New bride was trapped under dead husband for hours when chopper crashed taking them from wedding: lawsuit

A new groom was killed when a helicopter taking him from his wedding crashed into trees — leaving his severely injured new bride forced to lie underneath his corpse for six hours waiting to be rescued, according to a lawsuit. Jesni Sam and Dave Fiji, a Delta pilot, had been married only a few hours when their wedding day turned into an “unimaginable nightmare” as the chopper taking them from their celebration at the Revere, a wedding venue in Dawnsonville, Georgia, crashed minutes after takeoff, killing the groom and their pilot.The bride miraculously survived  — but endured hours of horror as she was wounded and trapped in the mangled wreckage under the man she meant to spend the rest of her life with.“For nearly six hours, Jesni remained trapped in the rubble, with the deceased corpse of the man she had married only hours earlier lying on top of her,” according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday by Robb & Robb LLC, a firm that represented Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, after the NBA legend’s 2020 death in a helicopter crash.The young newlyweds boarded the Robinson R66 helicopter, operated by Prestige Helicopters, around 11:45 p.m.for a “helicopter sendoff” bound for DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.It took off despite poor weather conditions — and clipped some tall trees just five minutes into the flight, sending it crashing into the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).NTSB weather information cited in the lawsuit states the area may have had rain, fog, low clouds and moderate rain.

Weather advisories were also in effect for thunderstorms, poor visibility and mountain obscuration, according to the lawsuit.Fiji’s mother, Phebah Fiji, told Fox 5 that they were amazed the helicopter ride wasn’t canceled, which her son, a pilot for Delta, was also concerned about.“Initially, it was going to be called off because of weather concerns,” she said.“However, when the chopper c...