HOLLYWOOD—A lawsuit has been filed on Monday, December 12, against LAUSD for the death of a 15-year-old girl.
The mother of the girl, Elena Perez, is claiming that the Helen Bernstein High School staff knew of the rampant drug sales on and previous drug overdoses that transpired on campus. Her daughter, Melanie Ramos, was found dead in a bathroom on September 13 at around 8:30 p.m. by a man who was looking for his missing daughter said to be a classmate of Ramos.
That evening, the missing girl awoke next to Ramos and observed that she was unconscious. She met her father who was looking for her outside and reported to him what she saw.
LAPD Chief Michael Moore stated that Ramos took a pill she believed was a Percocet, but was instead laced with Fentanyl. A detailed autopsy is still pending that will also reveal how long she was dead before she was found.
The plaintiff claims that school officials didn’t bother to look for Ramos and that she could have possibly survived if she received medical help on time. The high school failed to take action to stop the flow of illegal drugs inside the school and made it easily accessible to teenagers. The school also didn’t do “bathroom sweeps” to find students selling or using drugs, according to the lawsuit.
Detectives stated that both Ramos and her classmate purchased the drugs off-campus then took the drugs on-campus once they obtained them. Two boys between the ages of 15 and 16 were later arrested for the death of Ramos and other drug related offenses in the area.
