Deputy Sheriff of Los Angeles County, who died after a mobile shooting range in the flame, family, sheriff’s department for illegal death, claiming that the trailer was not properly cleaned by dangerous conditions that caused the explosion.
The 22 -year -old department veteran Alfred Freddy Flores Famres Family Lawyers said on Monday that the Sheriff’s Department did not comply with the orders of the state regulatory authorities to inspect and clean the trailers, creating “unreasonably dangerous” conditions for the deputy when it appeared to the authorized firearm test on October 2023.
“It should never have happened,” John Carpenter, a lawyer representing Flores family, journalists, told reporters on Monday after lodging a lawsuit in Los Angeles District Higher Court. “The county was done deliberately indifferently, and it has to stop.”
Read more: Deputy Sheriff of Los Angeles County Dies Six months after fire shooting range
The family requests that the Sheriff’s Department be prohibited from using mobile ranges and also seeking unrefined amount compensation and criminal damages.
According to him, Flores had to “be in his comfort zone” at the training facility, which was built at the Castic Jail complex. The court’s lawsuit states that the accumulation of non -burned weapon, lead and other flammable material caused a fatal explosion. Flores suffered severe burns and was hospitalized for six months to death.
The widow of Flores Margarita Gonzales Flores was sitting nearby, sometimes fighting tears. In a statement, she and their four children, between the ages of 9 and 25, said the loss had left a great emptiness in their lives.
“Based on this lawsuit, we are looking for answers to our questions and accountability for the tragic event that took it from our lives,” the report said. “We also want to ensure that no other deputies lose their lives in this way, because no family should survive the devastation that our family had to face and continue to face every day.”
The Sheriff Department officials did not immediately respond to the request to comment on the requirements of the Flores family. Nor did they answer the questions whether the deputies were still training or trying to take over the mobile ranges and what actions were taken to ensure their safety.
The family lawsuit also identifies a mobile phone manufacturer as a defendant, claiming that the object was poorly designed. Innerin’s training solutions did not immediately respond to the request to comment.
The Times has previously announced that the California Occupational Safety and Health Division quotes the Sheriff’s Department with violations associated with 2021 to miss inspections, disregard for care and unable to handle proper records.
Read more: “All Inferno: Range Trailers History in La Sheriff’s section
The carpenter said the Sheriff’s Department had long been aware of the dangers of mobile range, which had at least three times in the past.
2016 A contractor working in a trailer built by the Department Tactics and Survival Center caused a flame using a metal grinder. Three years later, the mobile trailer caught fire during a workout, when the device was not resolved to imitate the intoxicating grenades, and began a fire that covered the trailer. All deputies avoided injury.
Also 2019 The trailer built near the Castic Jail complex caught fire. Officials said the cause was a contractor with an electric tool.
“We want them to stop revealing our deputies and law enforcement because of this fatal threat,” Carpenter said. The court’s lawsuit also states that prisoners were allowed to clean and help maintain the trailers in the La County Prison.
Despite the promises of the Sheriff Department to enter what happened in the Floresa case, Carpenter said, a year and a half, and the deputy family was still not informed of the results of the investigation.
“We still have no guarantee that it will not happen again,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Department has used mobile shooting ranges since the 1980s to allow deputies to conveniently test their firearm skills, and the agency can avoid paying overtime to spend the day on a fixed location.
The carpenter criticized the Sheriff’s Department’s confidence in mobile ranges to save costs.
Read more: After missing inspections, free care: The regulatory authorities blame the Sheriff’s Department for a fire that killed the deputy
“It’s done to save money,” he said. “It’s not worth it. It’s not even close.”
There are several shooting strips from 50 to 53 feet of mobile structures that are maintained by the range of the range. Internal walls are covered with sound insulation foam, and a thick rubber or metal plate, called bullet traps, is sitting behind the target.
As with other indoor ranges, shooting trailers need to be cleaned regularly to prevent dangerous lead and weapons.
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This story initially appeared at the Los Angeles Times.