The mother of two children, who died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning after being stuck in a Flint, Michigan, housefire, has filed a lawsuit against the city for $50 million.
The mother believes the firefighters reneged on their oath to fearlessly serve, actions that resulted in the death of her sons.
Crystal Cooper says her family is struggling to process the deaths of Lamar Mitchell, 9, and Zyaire Mitchell, 12, who died at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan during the summer of 2022. Mitchell died on June 1, and his brother died two days later, after being trapped on the second floor of the house they were in.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, the grieving mother, representing her son’s estates, filed an amended complaint in Genesee Circuit Court. She claims that former Flint firefighter Sgt. Daniel Sniegocki and his co-worker Michael Zlotek grossly neglected their duty to save her sons and thus are responsible for their deaths, Penn Live reports.
In addition to their wrongful deaths, Detroit attorney Todd Flood, a former Flint water crisis prosecutor, and attorney Robert Kenner Jr. of Stone Mountain, Georgia, Cooper’s attorneys, claim her children’s due process rights were violated, all of which have inflicted emotional distress to their mother.
The lawsuit explains, “On May 28, 2022, two members of the Flint Fire Department blatantly disregarded their oaths and took affirmative actions that tragically affected the lives of two innocent children.”
“Lamar and Zyaire Mitchell would still be alive if Defendants Daniel Sniegocki and Michael Zlotek had conducted a primary search of the second floor of the Pulaski (Street) residence, as ordered by commanding officers, and truthfully reported the results to their fellow firefighters,” the complaint adds.
Zlotek and Sniegocki said they had searched the second floor but did not find anyone there.
However, former Fire Chief Raymond Barton said that is not the…
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