Flair Airlines CFO charged with manslaughter

Flair Airlines’ chief financial officer Sumanth Rao is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with a fatal crash involving an underage driver who had been drinking at his Atlanta-area home.

Flair said in an emailed statement it was aware of the situation and had put measures in place “to ensure operational continuity” as the court case unfolds against Rao, who was hired in August.

The district attorney for DeKalb County in Georgia says a grand jury indicted Rao, his wife and the teenage driver of the SUV, in which his daughter was a passenger.

Sherry Boston says their daughter and the 18-year-old driver were able to crawl out of the vehicle after it crashed on a residential road on Feb. 24, but that passenger Sophia Lekiachvili died from her injuries in hospital.

Boston says that data from the SUV showed that driver Hannah Hackemeyer, who was charged with vehicular homicide and impaired driving, was speeding roughly 100 km/h over the limit and never tapped the brakes.

The district attorney’s office says Rao’s daughter and two friends had spent the evening at the family’s house, with the teens sharing a bottle of wine in the kitchen in view of the parents, who allowed them to leave for a drive shortly before midnight.

 This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.