County Sued in Child’s Death
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The parents of an 18-month-old boy who was beaten to death last summer shortly after he was taken from them and placed in a Pomona foster home filed a $1-million lawsuit against Los Angeles County on Friday, charging officials with failing to properly monitor the facility.
The lawsuit by Luis and Carla Marie Salas also names the foster home proprietor, Thelma White, and her 20-year-old daughter, Betty, who reportedly admitted to police that she struck the child repeatedly with her sandals because he got on her nerves.
White is currently on trial in the murder case.
Suffering from severe head trauma, the boy died June 30. Child abuse officials had placed him in the foster home the previous month, explaining that he had been physically abused at home.
The lawsuit alleges that Betty White “intentionally, maliciously and willfully assaulted and battered” the child and cites county officials for failing to place him in a proper foster home.
The county, the suit says, “knew or should have known that an unsafe condition existed” and noted that White’s mother frequently was absent from the foster home.
Attorneys could not be reached for comment.
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