LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The parents of an 18-year-old man fatally shot inside a house in South Los Angeles in 2018 are suing the city and police Chief Michel Moore, alleging the LAPD took too long to get their son medical help and that race played a role.
Frank Mariscal and Silvia Galvan, the father and mother of Patrick Mariscal, allege civil rights violations in the Los Angeles Superior Court complaint filed Monday. They're seeking unspecified damages as well as compensation for funeral and burial expenses.
The plaintiffs allege their son “suffered extreme physical pain and suffering'' before he died because the LAPD did not allow first responders to provide care to a Latino gunshot victim and allowed him to die.
“They racially profiled Patrick Mariscal, treating him as a second-class citizen and undeserving of life-saving care,'' the lawsuit alleges.
A representative for the City Attorney's Office could not be immediately reached for comment.
After her son was shot by another man on Sept. 28, 2018, in the bedroom of a home located near San Pedro Street and Gage Avenue, Galvan called 911 and both the LAPD and emergency personnel arrived, according to the suit. But despite her pleas for her son to get immediate transportation to a hospital, the LAPD refused to enter the home even though the shooter was no longer present, the suit alleges.
“The police prevented the paramedics from entering the home for approximately 25 minutes, (despite) precious time needed to obtain life-saving care,'' according to the complaint.
Mariscal's parents allege he was ultimately “dragged out of the home,'' placed in an ambulance and finally transported to a hospital emergency room, but it was too late.
The plaintiffs allege that their son was not a threat to himself or the police officers and that their decision to not enter the home and get him medical aid sooner amounts to “extreme indifference to human life.'' They also maintain the officers were unfit for duty in the field.
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