A 15-year-old Los Angeles student who died of a suspected overdose was missing for eight hours before her body was found in a high school bathroom by her friend’s stepfather, attorneys said Wednesday.
Melania Ramos, a student suspected of fentanyl poisoning, tragically died in a bathroom on a September evening at Helen Bernstein High School after officials failed to search for the girl and, as a result, delayed medical attention. lawsuit filed on monday, According to the Los Angeles Times.
According to a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit filed by the mother of the deceased student, Elena Perez, her daughter and her friend were found by her friend’s stepparents around 8:30 p.m. on September 13.
That day, Ramos’ friend woke up around 8:00 p.m. and found Ramos unconscious and confronted his father outside.
According to the LA Times, school officials called Perez later that day to say Ramos was not in class.
LAPD Chief Michael Moore said Ramos took a pill he believed to be Percocet but was instead laced with Fentanyl, but a detailed autopsy is still pending, which will also determine how long he was dead before he was found, the report said. says the LA Times.
Gladys Manriquez, Ramos’ aunt, said at a news conference Wednesday: “If it wasn’t for the parents on the other side, my nephew would not have been found the next day.” According to CBS Los Angeles. “That’s why we want justice. We don’t want other parents to suffer what we are suffering.”
Perez learned of her daughter’s death from the LAPD the next morning.
Two teenage students have been arrested in the overdose death of a girl.
The lawsuit also alleges that the high school failed to take steps to stop the flow of illegal drugs within the school and the easy access to teenagers.
According to the LA Times, the lawsuit did not “clean the bathroom” to find students selling or using drugs at the school.
“Kids were buying, selling, and using drugs in the bathroom at Bernstein, and campus officials did nothing about it,” said attorney Michael Carrillo.
The Los Angeles Unified School District declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said “the safety and well-being of our students and staff remains our top priority.”
With post wires
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