ORLANDO, Fla. – A lawsuit announced Wednesday accuses Charter Communications of negligence in the death of a news reporter in 2023.
Lawyer Mark NeJame hosted a press conference regarding the lawsuit brought forth by the estate of Dylan Lyons, a 24-year-old journalist who was fatally shot while reporting on a previous shooting incident.
The lawsuit claims that Charter Communications, through negligence or recklessness, played a role in Lyons’ death.
Charter Communications is the owner of Spectrum News 13, the news outlet where Lyons was employed as a reporter when he lost his life on February 22, 2023, while covering the tragic death of Nathacha Augustin, aged 38.
Lyons and 9-year-old T’yonna Major were shot near the scene of the earlier shooting by a man later identified by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office as 19-year-old Keith Moses.
T’yonna’s mother, Brandi Major, and Jesse Walden, a Spectrum News 13 photographer, were also shot and injured.
Moses was later arrested in connection with the deaths of Augustin, T’yonna Major, Lyons, and the shootings of Brandi Major and Walden.
The suit states that Spectrum had the “responsibility, authority, and obligation” to provide a workplace free from serious hazards.
“It’s a lawsuit that we believe needs to be heard,” NeJame said before turning the floor over to his law partners.
The suit also alleges that Lyons was “commanded” by Spectrum to report on the shooting on Harrington Drive and Hialeah Street despite his employer knowing that Moses was “still at large.”
“One of the things that we see is that in the last eight years, 321 journalists have either been shot or shot and killed, which is an astounding number,” attorney Ryan Vescio said. “Every day journalists across this country just go to work to report the news. Journalists are in the profession for the love and to inform our community of things such as what happened that day. However, basic security measures could go a long way to protecting those over 300 journalists.”
The read the copy of the lawsuit filed by the estate of Dylon Lytons against Charter Communications, see below:
“All employers have an obligation to protect their journalists and protect their employees,” Vescio continued. “And those of you that brave the worst of the worst for the love of your job and to report news to the community, you deserve to be supported. You deserve to be protected. You deserve to have safety so that you can do that job.”
A spokesperson for Spectrum News provided the following statement Wednesday to News 6:
“Dylan’s murder was an unforeseeable and horrible tragedy. We hope that Keith Moses, who has been charged, will soon be brought to justice for the murder of Dylan and the others that day. With regards to these specific allegations, Dylan was the victim of a senseless act of violence. The claims against Spectrum News are unfounded and we will seek to have them dismissed.”
Spectrum News
Meanwhile, WKMG also released a statement regarding news crew safety:
”In full transparency, as a news-gathering organization, News 6 takes the safety of our reporters and photojournalists very seriously. It is our top priority. We strive to have regular conversations about our team’s safety and well-being in the field.”
WKMG News 6 station management
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