Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez rushes to help man who collapses on flight

Johnny Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez has been hailed a “wonder woman” after she rushed to help an elderly man who collapsed on board an American Airlines flight.

Ms Vasquez, who shot to fame representing the Pirates of the Caribbean actor in his defamation case against Amber Heard, was on a flight from Los Angeles to New York earlier this week when the incident unfolded, reported TMZ.

Passengers on board the flight told the outlet that a man in his 70s suffered a medical emergency, collapsing and hitting his head close to where Ms Vasqeuz was sitting in first class with her bodyguard.

The 37-year-old firebrand attorney reportedly leaped into action right away, jumping out of her seat to assist the man and immediately contacting her brother-in-law who is a doctor for help.

He guided her to check if the man was having a heart attack or if he had suffered a brain bleed from the fall while her bodyguard placed his own Apple watch on the man’s wrist to monitor his vital signs.

The crisis was quickly averted when a surgeon was located on board the flight and was able to take over.

The flight was diverted back to LA International Airport where the man – who had since regained consciousness – was escorted off the plane and taken to receive medical care.

Ms Vasquez was rewarded by the cabin crew for her bravery, with a flight attendant calling her a “wonder woman” and gifting her a bottle of merlot and champagne, a passenger told TMZ.

The Independent has reached out to American Airlines for further information.

The incident comes after Ms Vasquez became an overnight celebrity representing Mr Depp in his high-profile defamation case.

Throughout the dramatic six-week trial, the attorney found herself at the centre of a bizarre fandom among Mr Depp’s supporters with fan pages springing up on social media and supporters cheering her on outside the courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia.

She described the attention as “overwhelming and surreal” in an interview on the NBC Today show following the verdict but said she hoped she could be an inspiration to women looking to go into law.

open image in gallery

Ms Vasquez was also promoted to a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick following her work on the high-profile case.

Ms Vasquez is due to return to court to represent Mr Depp again on Friday as she will sit down with Ms Heard’s attorneys to see if the two sides can reach a final settlement in the case.

On 1 June, Mr Depp won his defamation lawsuit against Ms Heard after a jury of seven determined that she had defamed him on all three counts in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post.

In the op-ed, Ms Heard described herself as a victim of domestic abuse and spoke of feeling “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”.

Jurors awarded Mr Depp $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages, before Fairfax County Circuit Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the latter to the state’s legal limit of $350,000.

Ms Heard won one of her three counterclaims against her ex-husband, with the jury finding that Mr Depp – via his lawyer Adam Waldman – defamed her by branding her allegations about a 2016 incident “an ambush, a hoax”.

open image in gallery

She was awarded $2m in compensatory damages but $0 in punitive damages, leaving the Aquaman actress $8.35m out of pocket.

Judge Azcarate is yet to enter the verdict into the docket, with Friday offering the two sides a final chance to reach a settlement in the case.

If they fail to do so, the verdict will be entered into the docket and the two sides will have to pay each other the ordered damages.

After 21 days of the verdict being filed, the case will then move to the Court of Appeals of Virginia giving both parties 30 days to file a notice of appeal.