The parents of a man who fell to his death from a residential building at the Glendale YMCA in 2016 are suing the agency for negligence and wrongful death.
Abel Montes Sr. and Angela Reisner, the parents of 23-year-old Abel Montes Jr., filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. They seek unspecified damages.
A YMCA of Glendale representative did not immediately return a call for comment.
The suit states that Montes Jr. lived at the Glendale YMCA on Louise Street and had consumed an “intoxicating substance, possible cannabis” before returning to the property on New Year’s Eve in 2015. He told a YMCA employee that he was feeling “high” and “believed himself to be in danger,” the suit states.
On Jan. 1, 2016, Montes Jr. walked out a door of the residential compound and onto the tile roof, which was sloped and had no guardrails, between 4:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., the suit states. He fell from the roof and onto the street and died later that morning at a hospital, according to the complaint.
YMCA employees knew that residents often went onto the roof to enjoy the scenery, the suit states.
“The defendants promoted this vantage point as a benefit or feature of the property,” according to the complaint.
The entryway to the roof was open 24 hours and the condition violated the Los Angeles Municipal Code, the suit states. The YMCA was obligated to supervise Montes Jr. and the agency was negligent in allegedly failing to do so, the suit states.
The YMCA of Glendale had a policy of not permitting residents to return to its residential facilities while under the influence of drugs, the suit states.
–City News Service