Teen Suspect’s Parents File Claim Over Her Death

The parents of a girl who authorities say fatally stabbed another teenager at a Westside party last year have filed a wrongful death claim against Los Angeles police, alleging that detectives doomed their daughter by failing to seek medical help immediately after she collapsed while in custody.

The 17-year-old girl, Katrina Ava Sarkissian, was being questioned by police on Nov. 18 when she passed out at the West Los Angeles police station. She had been taken there on a murder warrant in connection with the fatal stabbing the night before of Deanna Maran, 15, a Santa Monica High School sophomore.

An autopsy revealed that Sarkissian had taken an overdose of antidepressant capsules before she left her Brentwood home with detectives. The claim alleges that she would have survived had the two detectives who were questioning her immediately summoned paramedics.

The claim was filed Friday in the city clerk’s office in downtown Los Angeles on behalf of the girl’s divorced parents, Angelique Sarkissian Bernstein and Sarkis Sarkissian.

The LAPD had no comment. Officials with the city attorney’s office said it they had not yet seen the claim.

The claim is the first public response from Sarkissian’s parents in a case that has attracted widespread media attention. A state-imposed, six-month deadline for making a claim was looming.

“There was a deadline that had to be observed, or their rights would be lost,” said Gary S. Casselman, their attorney. The claim does not specify a damage amount.

Last month, Sarkissian’s 15-year-old half sister was arraigned on a battery charge in Juvenile Court. It was her scuffle with Maran that triggered the stabbing.

According to the claim, Sarkissian and her half sister were taken into custody at about 1:55 p.m. at their home. By that time, Sarkissian had already ingested what an autopsy revealed to be about 43 capsules, at 75 milligrams each, of nortriptyline, a prescription antidepressant--twice the average fatal dose.

The girls arrived at the police station no later than 2:15 p.m. Sarkissian told Dets. Jim Hays and Kirby Carranza she felt sleepy. No later than 2:30 p.m., the claim said, the girl collapsed. Hays and Carranza, who are also named in the claim, tried to revive her.Sarkissian’s sibling, handcuffed nearby, begged the detectives to summon help, the claim said. Instead, they asked, “How long do your sister’s seizures last?” The girl responded that her sister did not have seizures.

At an unknown time, paramedics arrived, but, the claim said, Hays and Carranza told them to wait while they finished paperwork connected with the case.

Sometime before 3:05 p.m., the paramedics loaded Sarkissian into an ambulance. They arrived at UCLA Medical Center about 3:15 p.m., where she was pronounced dead just past 5:30 p.m.

Other legal actions in the case are expected.

“We anticipate filing a civil lawsuit not later than next week against all of those whom we believe to be responsible for the death of Deanna Maran,” said Anthony Glassman, an attorney for Ilja and Harriet Maran, Deanna’s parents. Glassman said the Maran family is considering suing Sarkissian’s parents and the owners of the home where the unchaperoned party was held.