Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a helicopter
Tommy Lee has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman on ötleyCrüa helicopter in 2003.
In a civil complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Dec. 19 and obtained by USA TODAY, a woman identified as Jane Doe accused the Mötley Crüe drummer, 61, of sexually assaulting her during a helicopter ride from San Diego to Van Nuys, California in February 2003.
The woman claims she "was lured under false pretenses by Tommy Lee's personal helicopter pilot, David Martz" to take the ride.
The lawsuit, dated Friday, also names Mayhem Touring, of which Lee was president and owner at the time, and Socal Helicopters, of which Martz was owner at the time, as co-defendants. Martz died in 2015, according to the lawsuit.
USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Lee for comment.
Tommy Lee accused of sexual assault: What the lawsuit alleges
In the filing, the woman alleges she was invited on a private helicopter flight by Martz and was not aware the Methods of Mayhem band member would also be on the helicopter.
According to the woman, she became friendly with Martz through her work as a bank teller in "late 2001 or early 2002." After being offered a private flight in his helicopter, she accepted an invitation, which she took as a "friendly gesture."
The day of the tour, the woman said lunch plans they'd scheduled prior were canceled at the last minute. When she arrived at the hangar where the helicopter was, Lee was there, with Martz explaining "that he needed to take Lee to Van Nuys and that the trip would take no longer than 35 to 40 minutes," she said. He then told the woman to hop in, she claims.
Jane Doe alleges Martz and Lee consumed alcohol, marijuana and cocaine almost immediately after taking flight, with Martz instructing the woman through the helicopter's headphone system to "just relax" when she wasn't drinking.
Martz then asked her to "come up to the cockpit and sit with Lee," she said. When she declined as there wasn't any room, according to the complaint, Lee told her to sit on his lap "so that she would not miss the view."
The woman "felt immense pressure from both Martz and Lee to come to the cockpit," she alleges, so she obliged.
Within a matter of minutes in the cockpit, the woman claims, "Lee began groping and kissing" her. Her attempts to pull away caused Lee to become "more forceful," she said, and at one point, the drummer penetrated the woman "with his fingers while fondling her breasts."
Lee then pulled down his pants and attempted to force the woman's head "toward his genitals," the lawsuit claims. The woman "was in tears, but she had nowhere to go — she was trapped with little mobility to leave the cockpit."
The woman claims that Martz only watched on, smiling. After the helicopter landed at Van Nuys Airport in California, Lee hugged the woman and hopped out of the helicopter. After, the woman traveled back to the airfield in San Diego in silence.
Jane Doe said she had no contact with Martz again until 2009, during a short telephone call. Martz died in an accident in an aircraft accident in August 2015.
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The woman "suffer(ed) great shock, distress, humiliation, shame, and guilt," due to the assault, the suit alleges. It was "those feelings, coupled by the fame of Lee and the climate of the music industry at the time (in which rock-n-roll stars like Lee thrived upon and gained even further celebrity from salacious and hedonistic conduct)" led her to believe nothing would come out of reporting the sexual assault.
She also believed the assault was somehow her fault and "that this was an isolated incident that would not be taken seriously by local police authorities."
But the woman alleges since the 2003 incident she has learned "she likely was not the only victim of Martz and Lee." She claims Martz and Lee, as well as the lawsuit's co-defendants, "engaged in coverups to ensure that such sexual assaults were not made public or disclosed to anyone."
Jane Doe is requesting a jury trial for damages of sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
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