Residents of California lose loved ones every day. The loss of a loved one is always an emotionally difficult situation. However, when the loss happens suddenly, unexpectedly and due to the negligence or lack of care of another individual it can bring even more emotions to the surface. The family may experience anger and confusion along with the mourning and sadness.
The only fragment of good news in these types of situations is that the family may have a cause of action against the negligent party. They may be able to recover compensation under a wrongful death lawsuit.
A California mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States government. Her son was shot by an undercover DEA agent in a parking lot around 9:30 in the evening. The officers claim that the 18-year-old boy was trying to run over an officer with his vehicle and that is why he was fatally shot.
According to court records, the boy was going to the parking lot to meet an acquaintance that he had met online. The undercover agents were meeting in the same parking lot to recap after serving a search warrant at a house nearby. According to an attorney for the mother, when the agents saw the boy’s acquaintance they thought he was going to break into a car. So they allegedly violently accosted him.
When the 18-year-old boy saw the officers attacking his acquaintance he drove away. That’s when officers claim that they thought the boy was driving toward an officer in an attempt to hurt that officer. For this reason, the boy was shot and fatally wounded.
The mother is claiming that the officers concealed information regarding the incident, provided false information and tampered with the evidence. The trial is scheduled for March.
When a party is successful in a wrongful death claim against another party, he or she may be able to receive compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages and other hardships that are caused by the sudden loss of a loved one.
Source: NBC Southern California, “DEA Wrongful Death Lawsuit Moves Forward,” Jason Kandel, Dec. 29, 2012