He was stabbed while charging his car. He died after his ambulance was stolen
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Recent retiree Reinaldo Jesus Lefonts was charging his EV in a Downey library parking lot when he was attacked in a stabbing that severed both carotid arteries and both jugular veins.He was alive when an ambulance arrived at the parking lot — but that emergency vehicle was then stolen.
The driver of the ambulance, according to police, led officers on a pursuit that ended in a crash miles away.“In that moment, every second mattered,” Lefonts’ family says in a legal claim against the city.
“The City’s paramedics and rescue vehicle were Reinaldo’s only realistic chance of survival.Lefonts died at the scene of the stabbing, authorities say.Now his family is seeking $40 million from the city.
Their attorneys cite failures in public safety and the emergency response.They say a “surveillance” sign at the lot led Lefonts to believe he was safe, and that the ambulance was missing a required locking device.The 68-year-old had only recently retired from his job as a lab technician at UCI Medical Center when he was attacked on the morning of Sept.
13, 2025, in the Downey Civic Center parking lot adjacent to the public library at 11121 Brookshire Ave., according to the claim, filed Friday with the Downey city clerk.Suspect Giovanni Navarro, 23, had been arrested for trespassing at the same location less than 24 hours earlier.Navarro had 28 prior criminal convictions, including brandishing a weapon, attempted burglary and criminal threats, attorneys said.The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that Lefonts suffered at least four sharp force injuries to his head, neck and right forearm.
The fatal wound was a stab to the neck, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to the autopsy report.The Downey Fire Department rescue vehicle that responded was not equipped with a Tremco anti-theft locking device required under state law and applicable Fire...