Nearly four months after 36-year-old Lorenzo Lopez passed away inside a van outside a Mesa care facility, his family is still waiting for answers.
Lopez, who was nonverbal and had severe autism, attended Pathways for Life and relied on the facility for transportation. On June 4, he was found inside one of the facility’s vans after investigators believe he had been left there for hours as temperatures climbed above 100 degrees.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner has since determined Lopez passed away from environmental heat exposure and ruled his passing an accident. His family’s attorney also says records show Lopez was signed into the facility that morning despite apparently never making it inside.
His family is now preparing a wrongful-passing lawsuit while waiting for Mesa police to finish their investigation and determine whether criminal charges should be recommended.
His family says they want accountability and to make sure something like this never happens again.
#MesaAZ...