The father of a 17-year-old boy whose body was found in his wrecked car in a ditch four days after he crashed is seeking a $10 million settlement from the city, claiming Phoenix police and firefighters failed to search for the teen.
The pending wrongful-death claim suggested that first responders ignored the victim's passenger, who survived the nighttime crash, when he told them the car rolled over into trees and deep brush at the southeast corner of Cave Creek and Pinnacle Peak roads.
A Phoenix police helicopter made several passes over the area, shedding light on the scene, but police left that night without finding the vehicle. David Montoya's body was discovered four days after the Nov. 3 accident when a patrol officer returned to the scene and found the teen's body in a black Dodge Stratus overturned next to a tree.
The teen's father, Edward Montoya Sr., alleged that Phoenix police and firefighters "might have prevented his death" if he was trapped alive inside in the vehicle, according to the claim filed last month.
Jim Fickling, the family's attorney, said the city has until next week to respond to the claim within the 60-day limit. He said the family is prepared to file a lawsuit if they do not receive a response. Phoenix police declined comment, citing the pending litigation.
Fickling added the family is seeking "punitive damages that a jury would award." Edward Montoya did not return a call for comment.
David Montoya was driving southbound on Cave Creek Road around 9:30 p.m. at the time of the accident as he and 19-year-old Joshua George went to visit a friend in central Phoenix.
Police found George injured and intoxicated in the middle of Cave Creek Road after the accident.
Officers ignored George's comments because "they had reason to believe that David Montoya was hiding out with the vehicle somewhere" and wanted to "avoid facing his father over damaging the vehicle" in what they suspected was a DUI-related collision, according to the family's claim.
"A merely cursory attempt was made to locate the vehicle, despite Joshua George's statements, descriptions and injuries consistent with a rollover accident," the family wrote in the claim.
The family reported David Montoya missing after he didn't return home. On Nov. 7, four days later, a patrol officer located the vehicle upside-down in a "small copse of trees" about 70 feet off the roadway.
The claim also alleged four Phoenix police officers violated department policy and "concocted wholly fictitious and entirely erroneous theories and stories concerning David Montoya's fate" by suggesting that he fled the scene of a DUI crash.
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