Family of plane crash victim files court document requesting information about circumstances of crash

Julia Bianco, News Editor

The family of Abraham Pishevar, one of the four students killed in the Aug. 25 plane crash, is considering suing the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and the flying club that rented the plane to the students, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

Afshin Pishevar, Abraham Pishevar’s father, believes that the flight may have been part of ZBT recruitment, according to the court document, which named both the local and national chapters of the fraternity. Afshin is looking to receive any communication about and financial receipts for ZBT’s rush activities.

“Our family is seeking the truth about the circumstances of their flight and their participation in recruitment and rush activities of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Case Western Reserve University,” said Afshin in a statement. According to Afshin, there are discrepancies between the official statements from the fraternity and the text messages and Snapchats that Pishevar sent to friends the night of the crash, which made references to rushing.

“If there is a connection to rush, then we want to help implement strong safeguards to help prevent this tragedy from happening to any other family again,” Afshin added.

Representatives from ZBT said that there was no record of the flight being a part of rush activities.

“The four men killed in the plane crash on Aug. 25th were friends outside of the fact that two of the four men were brothers of ZBT and three of the four were members of the University’s wrestling team,” said Laurence Bolotin, executive director for the national ZBT fraternity.

“We have heard from family members and friends of some of the men killed in the plane crash that the rush to sensationalize and litigate this tragedy is painful to them,” added Bolotin.

Representatives from the local ZBT chapter could not be contacted in time for publication.

Afshin has also filed for information from the T&G Flight Club and its owner, Laurence Rohl. He wants records of the pilot, flight instructors, and safety inspectors.

A representatives from T&G Flight Club did not want to comment at this time.

The court document is merely a petition for information, but in the future, Afshin may choose to file a civil lawsuit.