Azusa : Suit Filed in Student’s Death
A wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against the Azusa Unified School District and school officials by the family of Eric Crabtree, a 16-year-old Azusa High School student who died Jan. 16 after an on-campus fight with another student.
The suit was filed Aug. 20 in Pomona Superior Court by Crabtree’s parents, Ruth Worrell and Dale Crabtree. The suit alleges that school officials could have prevented Crabtree’s death at the hands of Sergio Godinez, 17, an Azusa High football player. Godinez is serving a one-year sentence in a county youth camp after pleading no contest in March to involuntary manslaughter.
Also named in the lawsuit were Godinez; his legal guardian, Cindy Godinez; the five-member Azusa school board; school Supt. Duane Stiff, and Azusa High Principal Joe Garcia.
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