Drowned Boy’s Parents Sue Glendale Schools
The parents of a Hoover High School student who drowned during a school swimming class last September have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Glendale Unified School District.
Manuel and Alice Kupelian are seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed March 23 in Glendale Superior Court, said Gerald D. Raphael, attorney for the couple.
The lawsuit alleges negligence by the school district and its employees in the drowning of Danny Kupelian, 16, Raphael said.
Danny was swimming the final leg of a 100-yard warm-up on Sept. 22 when he suffered a seizure, lost consciousness and sank. He died about 90 minutes later at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
The lawsuit contends that Danny’s death was caused by a several-minute delay between the time he was pulled from the water by students and the time he was administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation by the school nurse, Raphael said.
A cyst on Danny’s brain triggered the seizure, according to an autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
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