By City News Service
According to court documents filed on Monday, county lawyers assert that surveillance footage reveals that after being denied entry to the game due to not having a ticket, Luna was escorted away by sheriff's deputies who had no further interaction with him.
The county attorneys state in their papers, "Mr. Luna admits that afterward he joined a tailgate, consumed alcohol to the point of intoxication, and initiated contact with Mr. Cifuentes prior to the altercation."
In their argument for dismissing the county as a defendant during the upcoming hearing on January 5, the county attorneys highlight that the appellate courts have consistently ruled that public entities and law enforcement do not bear any responsibility towards intoxicated individuals like Mr. Luna.
Furthermore, the county lawyers state that the county did not owe any duty to Luna and his wife and cannot be held accountable for their injuries.
However, Luna's attorneys contend that the deputies should have placed him in a designated sobering area or an automobile given his intoxication, asserting that the failure to do so put him at risk of harm. They argue that instead, the deputies placed Luna near groups of rival fans consuming substantial amounts of alcohol during the game.
The lawsuit originally named Apex Security Group Inc. as a defendant but Luna dropped them as a defendant in August.
The legal action has arisen from an altercation that occurred on January 30, 2022, during the Rams versus 49ers game, which determined the Super Bowl LVI entrant (the Rams ultimately won).
Prosecutors claim that Luna approached a group of people outside the stadium, leading to an altercation where Cifuentes allegedly struck Luna, causing him to fall to the ground.
Luna, wearing a 49ers jersey, was discovered in the parking lot by a security guard and transported to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Due to his injuries to his face and upper body, he was put into a medically induced coma.
Mayor James Butts of Inglewood mentioned shortly after the incident that surveillance footage showed a group of fans tailgating in Parking Lot L. He stated that Luna appeared to push Cifuentes from behind, leading Cifuentes to retaliate by pushing and punching Luna in the mouth. Luna fell to the ground, where he was later found and attended to by security personnel and paramedics.
Cifuentes was apprehended based on the identification from the surveillance video capturing his vehicle's license plate. Individuals acquainted with Cifuentes claimed that Luna was the instigator and seemed to be under the influence.
Luna's friends stated that he flew to Los Angeles and attended the game alone after his initial plans with other fans fell through. Luna is the owner of the Oakland Peruvian fusion restaurant, Mistura.New court papers claim that the San Francisco 49ers fan who was left in a medically induced coma after a parking lot altercation at SoFi Stadium during the 2022 NFC Championship game did not possess a game ticket. Attorneys representing Los Angeles County have confirmed this fact in relation to plaintiff Daniel Luna, whose alleged assailant, Bryan Alexis Cifuentes, and the Los Angeles Rams were among the original defendants in the case. Luna's wife has also alleged loss of consortium. Cifuentes has argued that his actions were in self-defense during his confrontation with Luna. Following the initial complaint lodged in September 2022, Luna and his wife have since added the city of Inglewood and Los Angeles County as defendants, although the city has since been dropped. The plaintiffs have filed a revised complaint as of Oct. 2.
According to court documents filed on Monday, county lawyers assert that surveillance footage reveals that after being denied entry to the game due to not having a ticket, Luna was escorted away by sheriff's deputies who had no further interaction with him.
The county attorneys state in their papers, "Mr. Luna admits that afterward he joined a tailgate, consumed alcohol to the point of intoxication, and initiated contact with Mr. Cifuentes prior to the altercation."
In their argument for dismissing the county as a defendant during the upcoming hearing on January 5, the county attorneys highlight that the appellate courts have consistently ruled that public entities and law enforcement do not bear any responsibility towards intoxicated individuals like Mr. Luna.
Furthermore, the county lawyers state that the county did not owe any duty to Luna and his wife and cannot be held accountable for their injuries.
However, Luna's attorneys contend that the deputies should have placed him in a designated sobering area or an automobile given his intoxication, asserting that the failure to do so put him at risk of harm. They argue that instead, the deputies placed Luna near groups of rival fans consuming substantial amounts of alcohol during the game.
The lawsuit originally named Apex Security Group Inc. as a defendant but Luna dropped them as a defendant in August.
The legal action has arisen from an altercation that occurred on January 30, 2022, during the Rams versus 49ers game, which determined the Super Bowl LVI entrant (the Rams ultimately won).
Prosecutors claim that Luna approached a group of people outside the stadium, leading to an altercation where Cifuentes allegedly struck Luna, causing him to fall to the ground.
Luna, wearing a 49ers jersey, was discovered in the parking lot by a security guard and transported to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Due to his injuries to his face and upper body, he was put into a medically induced coma.
Mayor James Butts of Inglewood mentioned shortly after the incident that surveillance footage showed a group of fans tailgating in Parking Lot L. He stated that Luna appeared to push Cifuentes from behind, leading Cifuentes to retaliate by pushing and punching Luna in the mouth. Luna fell to the ground, where he was later found and attended to by security personnel and paramedics.
Cifuentes was apprehended based on the identification from the surveillance video capturing his vehicle's license plate. Individuals acquainted with Cifuentes claimed that Luna was the instigator and seemed to be under the influence.
Luna's friends stated that he flew to Los Angeles and attended the game alone after his initial plans with other fans fell through. Luna is the owner of the Oakland Peruvian fusion restaurant, Mistura.
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