It is hard to forget the scene in the summer of 2018 when YouTube sensation Trevor Heitmann drove his McLaren sports car the wrong way on Interstate 805 causing a fiery crash. The crash killed Heitmann, 43-year-old Aileen Pizarro and her 12-year-old daughter Aryanna.
Since then, numerous lawsuits have been filed. The victims' family has sued both the city, the Heitmann family and Heitmann's estate.
The Heitmann family has sued the city of San Diego and filed a complaint against the city, holding the city financially responsible should the Heitmanns be held liable for the deaths of the Pizarros.
Now, the city of San Diego has filed a cross-complaint against the Heitmanns.
"All these lawsuits are about who is ultimately financially responsible for the Pizarro tragedy."
Dan Eaton, Legal Analyst
"All of these lawsuits are about who is ultimately financially responsible for the Pizarro's tragedy," NBC 7 legal analyst Dan Eaton said. "You essentially have two sets of defendants, the Heitmanns and the city, that are saying 'Wait a minute, you're the ones responsible.'"
In their complaint against the city, the Heitmanns claim San Diego Police Department officers who visited their home the day of the crash knew Trevor Heitmann was a danger to himself and others; and police did not keep him off the road.
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"The Heitmanns are saying if we have to pay the Pizarros, you (the city) have to pay us ... because it was your police officers' failure to take Trevor Heitmann into custody that enabled him to be free to get into the McLaren and cause this horrific crash," Eaton said.
In its cross-complaint, the city blames the Heitmanns and the estate.
According to the cross-complaint, "the Cross-Defendants (the Heitmann plaintiffs) are responsible for causing and allowing their decedent to drive the 2015 McLaren or negligently gave him access to the vehicle thereby allowing him to drive the wrong way in a careless, negligent and reckless manner and colliding with the vehicle driven by Aileen Pizarro."
The cross-complaint also says, "...that Cross-Defendants are responsible for not taking their son to the hospital sooner ...and not taking other steps to keep him from driving."
Eaton says in its cross-complaint, "What the city is saying in this lawsuit is if by chance a jury finds us liable and it's more than the proportion of what is our responsibility, Heitmann, then you've got to pay us. The city taxpayer should not pay out of pocket."
It isn't uncommon when there are two defendants to have them point the finger at the other, Eaton said.
"They're going to look for someone to eliminate their liability," Eaton said. He also said after all the finger pointing, a jury could theoretically find neither the Heitmanns nor the city legally responsible for the crash.
The city said they would not comment because the case is being litigated.
An attorney for the Heitmanns said, "This is a horrible disaster."
