Family of Woman Killed in New Orleans Float Accident Sues Carnival Krewe

The family of a woman killed in a float accident during the 2020 Nyx parade is suing the krewe, its captain, and the City of New Orleans.

The family of Geraldine Turner Carmouche claims that the city, the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, krewe captain Julie Lea, and tractor driver Desmond Williams were negligent in her death, the wrongful death lawsuit contends.

Carmouche, 58, was killed when she was hit while trying to cross through the middle of a tandem float. The victim’s family says the krewe and float driver failed to warn Carmouche before the incident and failed to enclose the spaces between parts of a tandem float. Carmouche, who was related to two Nyx members, died at the scene. The rest of the parade was postponed for four days, when it ran as part of the Krewe of Pandora procession in Metairie.

The civil suit demands damages from Nyx, Lea, the city, the float’s owner and the man driving the vehicle, multiple news agencies reported.

Attempts to contact attorneys for Nyx and the city were not immediately successful.

Carmouche was one of two people killed by tandem floats during Carnival 2020. Three days after she died, Joseph Sampson, 58, fell under a tandem float in the Krewe of Endymion parade. The fatalities prompted city officials to ban tandem floats for the rest of the 2020 Mardi Gras season.