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Left inset: Tanya Hendry (Dignity Memorial). Right inset: Jonathan Spano (Instagram/@trafficmanagementinc). Background: The California cliff that Tanya Hendry plummeted off of while allegedly riding in an ATV at Jonathan Spano’s “Burning Man”-style party (San Luis Obispo County).
A California stunt pilot, who played a role in the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick,” has reached a settlement with the family of a woman who tragically died at a party he hosted. The woman fell from a beachside cliff while riding in an ATV. The lawsuit accused the pilot of supplying drugs and alcohol to the driver involved in the incident.
In December 2020, 34-year-old Tanya Hendry suffered a fatal accident, falling off a cliff in San Luis Obispo County while riding with Maria Arayza-Alvarez, the ATV driver. Arayza-Alvarez had also been named in the 2022 civil lawsuit and settled with Hendry’s family earlier.
Following Hendry’s death, Arayza-Alvarez faced charges of driving under the influence, causing injury or death, and gross vehicular manslaughter. Her conviction resulted in a four-month jail sentence, as reported by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Hendry’s family alleged that Jonathan Spano, the party’s host, and Harmony Bluffs LLC, the property owner, were responsible for providing the substances that led Arayza-Alvarez to drive recklessly, resulting in the accident.
According to the family’s legal complaint, “Defendants Jonathan Spano and Harmony Bluffs LLC organized a party where they allowed their venue to be used for operating a high-performance recreational vehicle, a Can Am, by guests under the influence. They provided drugs and alcohol, attempting to recreate a Burning Man-like festival during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The aforementioned defendants agreed that [Arayza-Alvarez], who had no experience driving such a vehicle, should operate it, despite the fact she was under the influence, and despite the fact that it was nighttime, and — to the knowledge of the premises defendants — near the location of a sheer cliff,” the complaint alleged. “Each defendant furnished a component of this activity, thereby acting in furtherance of it: the premises, the vehicle, and permission for the use of each by an individual under the influence.”
In addition to these “unreasonable and reckless choices,” Hendry’s family accused Spano — who describes himself online as a “helicopter and jet film stunt pilot” — and Harmony Bluffs of failing to provide “warnings or guard” against the “known dangerous condition of the sheer cliff,” thereby contributing to her driving off of it, according to the complaint.
“These decisions culminated in the Can Am driving off the cliff, killing one of its occupants [Hendry] who died a horrific and excruciating death by drowning in the ensuing minutes,” the complaint said.
The terms of Spano’s settlement agreement are confidential. His lawyers did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment, nor did Arayza-Alvarez’s lawyers.
“In life, we all make mistakes,” the Hendry family’s attorney, Nicholas Rowley, told The Tribune.
“What defines us is what we do with our mistakes and whether or not we accept responsibility and how and when we accept responsibility,” he said. “I see this as the defense accepting responsibility, and that’s all the family wanted.”