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Loading ...Larry King family files wrongful-death suit
02.17.2009 11:12am EST
(Oxnard, California) The family of Larry King, the 15-year-old gay student who was gunned down by a classmate, has fired a wrongful-death lawsuit accusing the school, an LGBT rights group and a shelter of failing to protect him.
In all, nearly two dozen defendants are named in the suit.The lawsuit was filed by King’s parents, Dawn and Gregory King, and his brother, Rocky. It claims that the school and the Casa Pacifica shelter for troubled children where King had been living knew that his behavior was “sexually assertive” but that neither took action.
It also alleges that shelter gave him “cross-dressing clothes and makeup and women’s boots.” The lawsuit additionally claims that the Rainbow Alliance encouraged the teen to make the sexual advances which led to his death.
According to the lawsuit, King “did not cross-dress” while living at home and that his family begged officials from the school, the shelter and county Child Protective Services agency to ask him to “tone it down.”
The Associated Press reports Rainbow Alliance executive director Jay Smith denies the allegations.
“No facilitator or mental health therapist would say anything even remotely like that,” Smith told the AP. “This whole thing is just frivolous.”
Spokespersons for Casa Pacifica and the school also denied wrongdoing.
King often dressed in a feminine manner and told friends that he was gay. He was shot in the head during a morning class at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard in February 2008. More than 20 other students were in the room at the time.
King died in the hospital after doctors declared him brain dead and his mother agreed to have life-support removed.
The lawsuit also names Brandon McInerney, the 15-year-old who shot King in a classroom full of students.
I don’t claim to know all the details or really understand this, but it smells.
It sounds something like the parents were pissed at their kid for his gay or trans behavior. So they failed to protect him, and he ended up in a shelter.
Maybe the people who really ought to be sued are the people who promote homophobia and trans – phobia.
Reminds me of the couple in MINN (not sure if there or near there) who prayed over their desperately sick child, refusing medical care. The girl died of acute diabetic shock. Parents got indicted on something like negligent manslaughter. The problem is their religious leader(s) ought to be indicted also.
We fixed this kind of thing in MA back in the 60’s, when the Jehovahs witnesses preferred to let their kids die rather then get a blood transfusion. The parents lost their child custody rights. As they should have, for being unfit parents. And that
type of creeps still believe in that ignorance.
Human race???? And the question of what happened to the neanderthalls – we have met the enemy and they live amongst us.
Wow! First of all Charlie your crazy. Secondly, when did it become society’s responsibility to raise your children for you? Your son tells you he is gay and you throw him in the garbage. Then someone kills him and you want money. These parents need to get a clue and realize that it’s their fault their son is dead. If they had acted differently to his coming out he probably wouldn’t have acted out so much to the point it drove another student to shoot him in class. Again where were the parents? How did the killer get a gun and bring it to school without their knowledge. And I blame the school as well, why didn’t they transfer King to other classes or another school and protect him from harm as well? It seems for these two children everyone around them responsible for their care and safety dropped the ball completely. I think all the parents involved should go to jail along with the little monster they have created and the school system should pay by having the people involved with this matter fired immediately!
Whoa people, whats with the all out attacks on Larry’s family here? I tried to find some of the posts on this site when this story first broke, but , suprise, no luck! So, from my questionable memory: Larry was removed from his parents custody against their will by the state(county?) child care agency because he made a complaint about his father abusing him. (remember the story about the kid who said his father beat him with a baseball bat when he said he was gay? It turned out to be BS!) Larry said he was gay, but it seems to me he could also lay claim to the T in lgbt also. Maybe his father didn’t want him to dress like a girl at school because he knew it would lead to physical abuse and injury, but Larry wanted to be all he could be and like a lot of 14 year old boys found a way to get his way? Will we ever know? I said this before on this site and I’ll say it again here: A mother had to decide to pull the life support on her brain dead son, shot in the head in a classroom. No mother should have to do that. Even the wacky courts in LALA land would have to agree she can sue anyone she damn well pleases and I hope they win big, REAL BIG! I would suggest some other candidates to be added to the lawsuit:State or county child welfare that removed him, the owner of the gun,any and all religious cults even remotely assocoiated with any of the parties involved, the state and county and any LGBT group or organization or individual that encouraged his acting out.
That last one raise a few hairs? We don’t live in a perfect world, as we found out with PROP8, Ca isn’t the EMERALD CITY! As adults we can make choices that can be harmful, even fatal. We can smoke, drink and even have bareback sex. But as adults, we prohibit children from smoking and drinking and , unless your a RC priest, we DO NOT let other adults have sex with them. In other words we protect them from harm, until the are mature enough to HOPEFULLY make the right choices in life. Looks to me like an awful lot of adults, some with probably good intentions(and we know where that road leads to)failed to protect Larry (and his killer too!)from very dangerous and harmful actions. If it takes million dollar lawsuits to prevent this from happening again so be it! Who cares if some undeserving individuals or sleazebag lawyers make out like lottery winners if it saves one childs life!
If my mind serves me right, Larry King lived his last days in a shelter for troubled teens. Now his family plans to sue the school system? They are doing it just for the money, in my opinion.
While I can empathize with their loss, they have been handling the manner in a decidedly “it’s not my fault” manner all along – assuming no responsibility, which is ridiculous. Naturally, this will come across, whether fairly or not, as highly opportunistic. Ultimately however, we can’t forget the FACT that the person RESPONSIBLE is the muderer who commited the crime…Brandon McInerney.
So typical they (his folks) did not want their Larry at home because he was gay but are more than happy to get money from his death. If they took care of him and loved him like a parent should he might still be alive. they could have had him transfer to a differt school or asked a relative to watch him in a different town. Not send him to a shelter.
Well, I didn’t expect this turn, but this case has been about parental responsibility from the outset. McInerny’s (can’t help it..catholic?) parents are the ones that should be sued. Who taught that kid to hate? Can we go after the bishop? That kid now has to be housed and fed for life (and the real punishment will come when he goes into the real men’s prison)….who is going to pay? Parents should be responsiblle for their children’s actions if it is clear that bigoted upbringing caused it. Remember breaking the neighbors window with a baseball? Who paid to fix it.
But now we see the rest of the story where the poor murdered kid’s parents reveal themselves to be lacking of parental responsibility too.
Who knows why they were not raising him themselves…perhaps there is a real reason he had to be giveon over to authorities, but to then ask for money for something you GAVE UP shows their true identity.
It is us, the taxpayers, that need a payback on this one, and it should come from the parents that raised that little nazi to hate so much he fealt it was ok to murder. Remember, he was taught that hate.
There are familial reasons for King’s acting out….and frankly I cannot believe King was living in a shelter just so he could dress in drag. Methinks the king family protesteth too much, and in so doing they take the spotlight off the kid who committed the murder…to hide their indirect complicity?….
If a kid has to be in a shelter because his family can’t or won’t take care of him, then why should they have any legal standing to sue? They broke the kid and now they want to get paid for it. Ridiculous. They should be sued for the cost if his care and for abandoning him to a shelter.
Ahhh, interesting. I didn’t realize that Larry King had been in a foster care situation.
Kinda makes me wonder as to why the child had been removed from his home.
Looks like this child was failed by everyone around him.
This whole thing is so tragic. I feel so sorry for the family. No one should have to tone it down unless they want to. Why was he living in a shelter? The parents should be investigated.
My own parents told me to change or move when I came out. So I really fear that this person was a tortured soul
Tom in Long Beach
Jonathan Said: “Unfortunately, no-one knows if the “family” is looking for change, or just money.”
“The lawsuit additionally claims that the Rainbow Alliance encouraged the teen to make the sexual advances which led to his death.
“According to the lawsuit, King “did not cross-dress” while living at home and that his family begged officials from the school, the shelter and county Child Protective Services agency to ask him to “tone it down.”
Sounds to me like they are after money. Sounds like they are upset because the defendants didn’t make him more heterosexual-acting or encourage him to suppress his true self. One has to wonder why Larry was living at a shelter in the first place if his parents are so caring….
Angry people will do horrendous things.
That family is where Larry King developed his “troubled” nature. Of course, if their filing of a lawsuit helps to set up more effective training in the school district, and perhaps across the state, it may be helpful. Unfortunately, no-one knows if the “family” is looking for change, or just money.