A family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Glendale YMCA after their 23-year-old son fell from the roof of the YMCA building to his death back in 2016. According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Abel Montes Jr.’s parents earlier this week, “employee negligence and a drug-laced brownie” contributed to his death. Now his parents, Abel Montes Sr. and Angela Reisner, “are seeking unspecified damages from the organization.” But what happened, exactly?
A family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Glendale YMCA after their 23-year-old son fell from the roof of the YMCA building to his death back in 2016. According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Abel Montes Jr.’s parents earlier this week, “employee negligence and a drug-laced brownie” contributed to his death. Now his parents, Abel Montes Sr. and Angela Reisner, “are seeking unspecified damages from the organization.” But what happened, exactly?
According to the lawsuit, Abel “fatally fell from the top of the YMCA’s Louise Street housing unit in the early morning of Jan. 1, 2016.” Around 2 a.m. he arrived at the housing unit where he was a resident shortly after he unknowingly ate a brownie that “contained an intoxicating substance, possibly cannabis,” according to the lawsuit. Now, it’s important to point out that the YMCA has a strict policy of “prohibiting residents from entering the unit if they’re under the influence of an intoxicating substance.” However, even though he allegedly “told an employee at the housing unit that he felt unwell, high and was in some kind of danger,” he was allowed to enter the building. Once inside, he made his way to the roof sometime between 4:30 and 6 a.m. and “fell onto the street.” Even though he was transported to a hospital immediately, he was later pronounced dead.
“[The YMCA] affirmatively agreed to supervise [Montes] on this date. However…they were negligent in their efforts and, at times, they failed to actually supervise [Montes] despite their representations they would do so.”
However, the Glendale YMCA is pushing back against the lawsuit. The chief executive, George Saikali, claims his “employees did offer to get help for Montes but he declined and went to his room.” Saikali said, “Montes said no, that he was going to sleep it off.” According to Saikali, at that point, the YMCA “had no legal authority to do anything since Montes was an adult.” He added, “If someone, an adult, refuses help…what can you really do? All of us were devastated when it took place but there was nothing we could about it.”
But the lawsuit is also going after the condition of the unit’s rooftop, which is “widely used by residents of the unit and was a touted benefit by YMCA employees.” According to the lawsuit, the rooftop is a “dangerous feature that violates city and state building codes with slippery, brittle, broken and unstable Spanish tile…the area of the roof has no walkways, railings, guardrails or protective barriers of any sort.”
In response to the complaints about the rooftop, Saikali said the YMCA never “violated any building codes in regards to its roof.” In fact, he claims that preventing and “locking access would create a fire hazard because the residential building has multiple stories and people would need a way to escape in the event of an emergency.” He also pointed out that, before Montes’ accident, there hadn’t been any other “incidents involving the roof.”
Sources:
Glendale YMCA slapped with wrongful death lawsuit in man’s fatal fall from rooftop
Man falls to his death from Glendale YMCA rooftop, parents file lawsuit
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