David Monroe, director of San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology at Port San Antonio, was killed in an accident at the Boeing Center while moving a jet engine on Sept. 19, 2025.
San Antonio Express-News file photo
OSHA investigation photo of the dock ramp and engine.
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OSHA investigation photo of the engine on its rolling sled.
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OSHA investigation photo of the engine on its rolling sled.
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OSHA investigation photo of the engine sled’s casters, the focus of a new lawsuit.
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Another family member of a San Antonio inventor killed by a falling jet engine at Port San Antonio has sued an aerospace company that had retrofitted equipment involved in the accident.
David Monroe, founder and director of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology, died last year when a 2.5-ton jet engine that he and a colleague were moving rolled onto him at a loading dock at the Boeing Center at Tech Port.
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The engine was to be an exhibit at the museum’s Area 21 facility inside the Boeing Center.
Monroe’s widow, Lorena, filed a lawsuit against Knight Aerospace Medical Systems LLC, in Bexar County District Court, alleging gross negligence by failing to install wheel locks on the steel frame that held the engine.
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The lawsuit comes less than a month after Monroe’s daughter, Fox Convey, sued Knight over similar allegations, in Bexar County District Court. That case was moved to U.S. District Court in San Antonio and then voluntarily dismissed by Convey.
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Monroe, 72, had contracted Knight to install casters on the transport dolly, or sled, that held the Rolls-Royce Spey engine that had been sent to the museum earlier in 2025. Knight, which is headquartered at the port, completed its work and delivered the sled to Fox Works, the museum’s warehouse and workshop, just three days before the fatal accident.
On Sept. 19, 2025, Monroe and Adam Ortiz unloaded the 5,000-pound engine, which was on the wheeled sled, from a truck onto the loading dock. The sled began rolling after Ortiz pulled the truck away from the dock.
According to the lawsuit, the sled began to move because the newly installed casters did not have a locking mechanism.
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Knight had “failed to warn Mr. Monroe, or anybody associated with (him), that the sled was missing a crucial safety device,” it said.
The lawsuit seeks damages for wrongful death along with a jury trial. It does not specify the amount in damages being sought.
Jose F. Quiles, III, of the Gamez Law firm, is representing Monroe. In December, the firm said via social media it had been retained by her for future litigation.
A San Antonio Police Department investigation of Monroe’s death determined there was “no criminal element” in the accident, but a detective found evidence of a “rushed” job with “several apparent oversights.”
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Jason Spraggins, SAPD homicide detective, wrote that the oversights included not confirming the brake on the dolly was set or that the loading dock ramp was locked, moving the truck while the load remained on the dock ramp and not waiting for more help.
Surveillance footage showed the jet engine “sitting on the loading dock, still partially on the moveable steel ramp,” Spraggins wrote. Monroe appeared “to be struggling with the locking mechanism on the ramp as the truck pulls away.”
When the truck moved away, the ramp was no longer supported and began to lower, according to the report. The unsecured sled began to roll toward Monroe, who was at the front of the ramp nearest the truck.
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“The engine and dolly crash down on top of David as he lands on his back,” wrote Spraggins. “David is instantly motionless.”
Spraggins didn’t mention the sled’s casters or their apparent lack of locking devices in his report.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the museum $4,965 for the “serious” violation of failing to train workers on how to properly use the loading dock. SAMSAT agreed to pay $3,972 in an informal settlement that was reached with the regulator on April 8.
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Knight provides customized aircraft parts and equipment for the military and commercial clients. The 34-year-old company has had recent success with self-contained “flying emergency rooms” it builds at the port.
Monroe died without a will, and his estate is in probate court in Bexar County. He is survived by his widow, Lorena Monroe, and three children from a prior marriage — Adam Monroe, Dawn Monroe Harriman and Convey. Lorena Monroe was David’s third wife after two earlier marriages ended in divorce.