Lawsuit Filed Over Abuse Death Of Palmdale Boy
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Relatives of an 8-year-old boy who was beaten to death are suing Los Angeles County for failing to remove him from his Palmdale home.
City News Service say a wrongful death suit was filed Friday against the county's child welfare and social services divisions, the Sheriff's Department, the Palmdale school district, and the boy's mother and her boyfriend.
The boy, Gabriel Fernandez, died in May 2013 days after he was hospitalized with injuries including a cracked skull, broken ribs and burns.
His mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, have been charged with murder.
The suit says relatives, neighbors, teachers and others made more than 60 child abuse reports to authorities who either ignored them or botched the investigations.
Four child welfare officials were fired after the death.
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