A judge has removed Los Angeles County as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the parents of a sheriff’s deputy who alleged the amount of overtime their son was required to work played a role in his ambush killing in 2023.
Michael and Kim Clinkunbroomer, the plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, maintain that Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer was too fatigued to stay alert and avoid threats, leading to his fatal shooting outside the Palmdale sheriff’s station. The suit alleges a cause of action for battery against accused gunman Kevin Cataneo Salazar and an allegation of state-created danger against the county, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and two other LA Sheriff’s Department members.
Kim Clinkunbroomer, left, mother of Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer cries next her husband Mike during the funeral service for their son at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Oct. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool)On Monday, Judge Lynne Hobbs dismissed the state-created danger claim, taking the county out of the case. The judge found that the facts did not show “deliberate indifference” on the part of the LASD, but instead a staffing shortage caused by a hiring freeze that in turn necessitated increasing the amount of overtime deputies worked.
Clinkunbroomer’s parents maintain in the suit originally filed in April 2024 and revised on July 2 that their son was told to work so much overtime that he was exhausted and could not effectively respond when the then-30-year-old Salazar allegedly drove up alongside the deputy’s patrol car and shot him in the back of the head on Sept. 16, 2023.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna salutes the coffin of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer during a funeral service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Oct. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool)Related Articles
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Salazar is charged with murder that includes the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle, along with allegations that he personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver.
Salazar has entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the killing. If Salazar is convicted and determined to have been insane at the time of the killing, he would be confined to a state hospital rather than prison.
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