Rocker Tommy Lee has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the cockpit of a helicopter in 2003, according to a new lawsuit.
The Motley Crue drummer allegedly assaulted the unnamed woman, “forcibly groping, kissing and penetrating her with his fingers, and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation,” per documents obtained by TMZ.
According to the outlet, the lawsuit claims that Mr Lee’s pilot, David Martz, “lured” her onto a flight with the drummer in February 2003. The men were drinking and doing drugs during the incident, she has claimed.
In the lawsuit, the woman said she met pilot Mr Martz a year earlier in San Diego. He later offered to take her for a ride on his helicopter for a sightseeing trip, she claimed.
The woman claimed that when she arrived for the trip, Mr Martz told her there was a last-minute change of plans and they would be taking Mr Lee to Los Angeles instead.
The Motley Crue drummer allegedly assaulted the unnamed woman during a trip in 2003— (Ethan Miller/ Getty Images)
“Within a matter of minutes of being airborne, Martz pulled out alcohol he had stored in the helicopter and began to mix drinks,” the complaint said, per TMZ.
The woman claimed that she was told to “relax” before being told to sit on Mr Lee’s lap. She also alleges that both men were taking cocaine, smoking cannabis, and drinking during the flight.
In the complaint the woman said she felt “immense pressure,” and that as soon as she came to the front of the aircraft Mr Lee began to grope and kiss her. Later he “became more forceful”, she claimed.
Per TMZ, the lawsuit stated: “Lee then pulled down his pants and attempted to force plaintiff’s head toward his genitals. By this point, plaintiff was in tears, but she had nowhere to go—she was trapped with little mobility to leave the cockpit.”
Mr Martz “merely watched,” according to the complaint, and said nothing to her after dropping off Mr Lee and flying the woman back to San Diego.
Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee— (Getty Images for SiriusXM)
The lawsuit also notes that the woman did not speak with Mr Martz for several years after the incident. He later died in 2015 following an aircraft accident.
The incident and alleged sexual assault caused the woman “great shock, distress, humiliation, shame and guilt,” TMZ reported. She claimed she didn’t report the incident initially because she did not think police would believe her.
Besides Mr Lee, the woman has also named Mayhem Touring, Tommy Lee Inc., A Natural High Helicopters and Social Helicopters as defendants.
According to The Daily Beast, prior to his death, Mr Martz had lost his pilot’s licence three times — including following an incident in 2009 in which he had oral sex with an adult film star while operating his helicopter.
The Independent has approached representatives for Tommy Lee for comment.
