Neighbors of a home in San Francisco that exploded and heavily damaged two other residences are suing the property owners.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports David Garth and Phoutthasone Phommavongsay claim the defendants Peter and Diane De Martini ignored conditions that lead to the fatal incident.
The De Martinis rented the home to Darron Price who police accuse of operating a drug lab in the garage. His wife, Rita Price died in the resulting fire.
“The kind of activity here is egregious. These, these types of drug labs are incredibly, incredibly dangerous. The landlords had, we believe, had a duty to our clients to at least be aware of what’s going on and take affirmative steps to stop that from happening,” David Hollenberg, the couple’s attorney, said to ABC7.
According to KRON, investigators combed the ruins and found butane tanks and other equipment needed to produce hash oil. Price now faces felony manslaughter charges and has been released to home detention.
Court papers indicate Garth was in Oakland when his wife called him in tears, informing him their home was on fire. The family lost most of their possesions in the flames.
“Seeing our life completely turn upside down like that is something I don’t know we can ever recover from. It’s still hard to sleep even months later.” said Phoutthasone.
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