LOS ANGELES (KNX) – An LAPD officer became the first to be disciplined in connection to a fireworks explosion in a South Los Angeles neighborhood two years ago.
The officer was suspended for 10 days without pay for being “deficient in duties which contributed to an excessive quantity of explosive material being loaded into and detonated in the Total Containment Vessel,” according to an LAPD disciplinary penalties record.
The officer was not identified.
Jernetta Houchins, whose grandmother’s house was destroyed in the blast, told KNX News the punishment was “disappointing.”
“Well my dad is dead, and another man is dead, and my grandmother’s house was destroyed, so maybe him losing his job would have sufficed for me,” she said.
Houchins said her then 72-year-old father, Auzie, lived in that house his whole life and died a few weeks after the blast. She added that one of the causes of his death was sudden cardiac dysfunction.
She recounted a phone call she’d had with her dad after the explosion.
“The first words out of his mouth was, ‘the police blew up my house’ and he kept saying that repeatedly,” she said. “I asked him if he was ok and he said that the glass was everywhere.”
She also said her grandmother’s property was sold through probate.
Houchins isn't the only one who believes the blast contributed to her dad's death. Ramon Reyes also died weeks after the explosion, according to Ron Gochez with Union del Barrio.
On June 30, 2021, LAPD bomb techs were trying to detonate illegal fireworks they seized inside an armored container. The explosion not only destroyed the container but also injured 17 people and damaged multiple residences, businesses, and cars in the area.
A report by federal investigators revealed that police miscalculated the weight of the explosives.
Last month, the Los Angeles City Council approved $2.3 million in funding to help victims who were impacted by the incident.
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