OJAI : Negligence Claim Is Rejected in Death

The Ojai City Council has unanimously rejected a claim for $1.5 million by the family of a 19-year-old man who was stabbed to death at a weekend party last year.

The family of Jasper Fitzgerald, an Ohio man who was killed last May while visiting his boyhood home in Ojai, claimed that negligence on the part of officers responding to a call at the party contributed to the man’s death.

Fitzgerald was stabbed to death by Ryan Burchell, a 19-year-old Ojai man who told investigators that Fitzgerald had harassed him earlier in the evening.

Burchell later pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in state prison.

Family members said in the complaint that officers “failed to follow leads or even do a cursory check of the area” where screams were reported, in part contributing to Fitzgerald’s death.

The plaintiffs named Ventura County and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department in the claim in addition to the city of Ojai. County supervisors have yet to hear the action, but Robi G. Klein, director of the Risk Management Agency for the county, said he will recommend that the claim be denied.

The claim seeks $500,000 in civil damages and another $1 million in punitive damages for Fitzgerald’s father, mother and sister. Most claims against public agencies are routinely rejected and are followed by a formal lawsuit.