Tommy Lee accused of sexual assault in helicopter: lawsuit

Warning: This story contains graphic content.

A new lawsuit claims musician Tommy Lee sexually assaulted a woman in a helicopter during a drug-filled 2003 flight in California.

According to a civil complaint filed Friday at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the unidentified woman knew pilot David Martz and thought she was going on a sightseeing tour until she was unexpectedly introduced to the Motley Crue drummer at an airfield in San Diego.

“During the short 40-minute trip, Tommy Lee and David Martz consumed several alcoholic beverages, smoked marijuana, and snorted cocaine,” the complaint alleges. “Tommy Lee then proceeded to sexually assault Plaintiff by forcibly groping, kissing, penetrating her with his fingers, and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation.”

Described as Lee’s “personal helicopter pilot,” Martz died in a plane crash in August 2015. According to the Los Angeles Times, his pilot’s licence was revoked three times, including in 2009 after he was filmed engaging in a sex act with an adult film actress while flying a helicopter.

Companies associated with both Lee and Martz are also listed as defendants, including Mayhem Touring and A Natural High Helicopters. Representatives for Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The complaint alleges that the woman and Martz occasionally had lunch after they met at the bank she was working at. When she finally agreed to join Martz for a helicopter ride, she was surprised to learn on arrival that they’d be flying Lee to Los Angeles. She claims that the assault began soon after she reluctantly agreed to join Lee and Martz in the small cockpit.

“Plaintiff attempted to pull away from Lee, but he only became more forceful,” the complaint alleges. “By this point, Plaintiff was in tears, but she had nowhere to go—she was trapped with little mobility to leave the cockpit.”

The woman is seeking unspecified damages for sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

“Like many survivors of sexual assault, Plaintiff believed that the events that unfolded on Martz’s (helicopter) in February 2003 were caused by her own actions and that this was an isolated incident that would not be taken seriously by local police authorities,” the complaint claims. “Plaintiff has since learned that Martz and Lee had a history of engaging in indecent and illegal conduct on Martz’s helicopter.”

In 1998, Lee was sentenced to six months in jail for beating his then-wife, Canadian-American actress and model Pamela Anderson. Lee’s heavy metal band Motley Crue is scheduled to headline Ottawa Bluesfest and the Calgary Stampede in July.