By Joe Nelson on October 22, 2008 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |
An attorney representing the mother of a 14-year-old Highland boy killed after he was struck by a sheriff's deputy's patrol car in August plans to file a lawsuit against the city of Highland, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the county no later than Friday.
The city and county have rejected a claim, the predecessor to a lawsuit, filed by San Bernardino attorney Mark McDonald in September. McDonald represents Stacey McCombs, mother of 14-year-old Justin Taylor Ames, who was struck by an unnamed Highland sheriff's deputy at the intersection of Ninth Street and Drummond Avenue on Aug. 22.
This much is fact: Two deputies responding to a disturbance call in the area passed through the intersection where Justin was struck. Justin and a friend were riding their bicycles south on Drummond Avenue about 6:30 p.m. The two deputies were headed west down Ninth Street.
One of the patrol cars, which didn't have its lights or siren on, collided with Justin, who was not wearing a helmet when he rode into the intersection.
At least one witness said the boys did not stop at the intersection, and the deputy didn't have time to stop.
But other witnesses say the deputy was at fault, and actually accelerated prior to the collision, perhaps due to being blinded by the sun and not seeing the boy, said paralegal Denise McDonald, who is assisting Mark McDonald in the litigation.
The boy who was with Justin at the time of collision was never interviewed at length by sheriff's investigators, she said.
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