La Jolla, California family sue San Diego after tree falls, killing 4-year-old son, Ronan Kerr at San Diego city park in which they allege culpability.
A preventable death or just a tragedy that no one could’ve have foreseen…and the whim of nature?
The family of a La Jolla, California 4-year-old boy who died earlier this year have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against San Diego, blaming the city for not having cut and removed ‘doomed’ trees that would later fall on top of their 4 year old son, killing him.
Ronan Kerr was struck on the head by a ‘large’ piece of a eucalyptus tree while playing in Villa La Jolla Park in San Diego in June, according to a GoFundMe organized for his family.
Is San Diego City to blame for death of 4-year-old boy?
At the time of the ‘freak accident’, tragedy, the infant was beside his father, Cathal, and his 7-year-old brother, Charles, when the 34-foot branch plummeted 60 feet down from the tree, according to a wrongful death lawsuit obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Cathal Kerr tried to swoop in to grab both the boys, but was unable to catch Ronan in time. The branch then struck little Ronan and his father, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court.
The 4-year-old died after seven days in the hospital, the lawsuit states.
The incident led to the father suffering a brain injury, facial lacerations, and broken bones according to the suit.
The lawsuit, filed against the city of San Diego and two city contractors reportedly in charge of tree upkeep, claimed that the fateful branch that struck Ronan was clearly unhealthy and decayed.
‘The tree’s branches and limbs were large, elongated, heavy, angled, and improperly maintained to the point that it was obvious to a trained eye that the tree would catastrophically fail,’ the lawsuit stated.
What were San Diego City’s reasonable and foreseeable obligations?
According to filed documents, the city should’ve known about the dangers of the trees with at least 30 episodes since 1983, including in Villa La Jolla park, where branches broke. Notwithstanding the necessary manpower, budgeting required to maintain the overall ongoing safety the size of San Diego city.
In 1983, a 4-year-old was killed by a fallen branch at the entrance to the San Diego Zoo. In 2013, a pregnant woman and a man were also injured by a fallen tree at the UC San Diego campus, according to the lawsuit.
‘Eucalyptus trees in San Diego parks … were posing significant dangers to the public,’ the lawsuit alleged.
‘The city’s inspection and maintenance protocols were grossly inadequate to identify hazardous trees before they failed.’
The lawsuit also seeks to have all eucalyptus trees deemed a danger to the public in parks and school yards be either removed or managed.
The suit also requests that all trees be properly inspected in a timely manner and that the results and assessments be made public on the city’s website.
Explained Ronan’s dad, ‘My love for him is just so immense, so immense still. I miss him every second of the day. There’s not really a second that goes by that he’s not on my mind.
‘Just not to have him and his companionship is something that my heart will never get over. He was such a big part of our family. We’re broken. We’re broken.’
