A judge Thursday dismissed all claims brought against Los Angeles County by two of three sons of a 60-year-old woman run over and killed by a vehicle allegedly driven by a sheriff’s deputy in 2020.
Antwon, Michael and Marcus Land, the offspring of the late Karen Land, brought the wrongful death/negligence suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2021.
Also named as defendants are Deputy Armando Ibarra, who was allegedly driving the vehicle that struck the woman, and room-and-board facility Haven Home.
On Thursday, Compton Superior Court Judge Fumiko Wasserman granted a motion by county attorneys to dismiss all claims against their client as they pertain to Michael and Marcus Land because, unlike Antwon Land, they did not submit a legal claim to the county before suing.
The siblings’ mother, Karen Land, was crossing Imperial Highway at Slater Street in a wheelchair in a crosswalk about 6:25 a.m. Dec. 11, 2020, when she collapsed and fell onto Imperial Highway, the suit states.
Several drivers swerved or stopped to avoid her, but Ibarra’s vehicle struck her, the suit alleges.
The suit alleges Ibarra negligently failed to yield to a pedestrian and that as a result Karen Land’s sons have been deprived of the love, aid, comfort and companionship of their mother, who had a “loving and devoted relationship” with her children.
The sheriff’s department previously released a statement on the incident, saying the deputy’s vehicle was actually the last of several to hit the victim.
“Early this morning … a deputy driving a patrol vehicle struck an object on the roadway while traveling westbound on Imperial Highway,” the statement read.
“The deputy immediately stopped and learned the object was a person. The preliminary investigation revealed the person was laying on the roadway because they had been struck by several other vehicles, prior to the deputy collision.”
The suit further alleges that three days before her death, Karen Land left Haven Home, a facility where she received treatment for a drug problem, but that the staff did not notify her family or authorities.