The city of Los Angeles has approved over $21 million to resolve a fiery legal dispute over the police accidentally blowing up a neighborhood with fireworks, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The city council unanimously voted to settle over a dozen legal claims that date back to the June 30, 2021 incident, the outlet reported. (RELATED: ‘Suspicious’ Explosion At Homeless Camp Costs Los Angeles Firefighter His Ear)
The Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) improper detonation of the cache of illegal fireworks led to the injury of 17 persons and the displacement of dozens of others, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The LADP estimated that they found 32,000 pounds of fireworks and other explosives in the neighborhood, the outlet noted.
The police bomb squad stuffed around 40 pounds of dangerous fireworks into an armored containment vessel that exploded, a federal report read, the AP reported. The vessel was reportedly only authorized to carry 33 pounds of explosives.
Los Angeles to pay $21M to settle claims over botched fireworks detonation by police 3 years ago https://t.co/ZWcXHh6RC6
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 3, 2024
“It is my firm expectation that the LAPD has learned from this disaster and has taken every necessary step to prevent such tragedies from occurring ever again in the future for the sake of our City,” Councilman Curren Price told the Los Angeles Times. The councilman reportedly acknowledged that the legal settlement was “a crucial step” for the victims to heal and rebuild from the trauma.
Price said in a statement that the process to settle the issue was “agonizingly slow” and that he regretted it took so long, the Los Angeles Times reported. Price’s office claimed that once the settlement checks were sent out, the families living at the Level hotel following the incident would have as much as 90 days to find alternative housing, the outlet reported.
“We don’t know where we’re going to go … but it doesn’t really matter,” Kenia Quintanilla, a displaced victim of the fireworks incident, told the outlet. “Because I just don’t want to be in the hotel. I’m sick and tired of it.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass still has to approve of the legal settlement, the outlet noted.
