The family of the Belle Chasse teen who fell to death inside Plaza Tower is suing the owners of the building, saying they didn't do enough to keep the teen and other urban explorers out of the vacant skyscraper.
Jacque St. Ann, 17, died inside the abandoned skyscraper on August 15. He and several friends ventured inside the derelict building prior to his fall.
Now, lawyers for St. Ann's family say they don't want other teens to meet the same fate their son did.
"Everyone knew that this building was a hangout for kids," attorney Cedric Richmond said, noting that online videos of teens inside the Plaza Tower are proof of this. "(There) was a fence that was wide open. There were no 'no trespassing' signs."
Richmond and fellow attorney James Williams accused the building's owners of putting their profits ahead of the safety of the general public by failing to repair holes in perimeter fencing and by not boarding up the vacant skyscraper. According to Richmond and Williams, the negligence of the building's owners led to St. Ann's death
"This young man was a kid with the rest of his life in front of him," Williams said. We owed him a duty to protect him. They owed him a duty to protect him."
"What we do know is that if you have a pool at your house, you're going to put a fence around it because you're going to make sure that no one gets back there that can hurt themselves," Richmond added.
According to Williams, justice in this case would be the tower's owners taking fault, sealing off the building to keep trespassers out, and doing what they can under the law to make things right with the St. Ann family.
"We can do it the easy way or the hard way, but we're going to do it," Williams said.
When asked whether St. Ann and the teens who went into the Plaza Tower with him bears any responsibility for his death, Richmond punted.
"That's for a court to decide," Richmond said.
