Homeless woman left to die inside impounded vehicle after getting injured by drunk driver, lawsuit says

The family of a homeless woman found dead inside a vehicle at an impound lot is suing the city of San Diego for failing to find the injured woman after a drunk driver struck her van.

65-year-old Monica Cameroni de Adams was sleeping in her van in 2023 when Jordan Lopez struck her vehicle with his car and injured her. Lopez was found to have a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit.

‘The worker at the tow yard reported a pungent smell coming from the car, and that turned out to be Monica.’

The body of the woman was found more than a month later in December by workers at the tow yard lot in Grantville, where her van had been towed.

“The death was approximately caused by leaving her alone, struggling with her injuries inside of her car, entombing her in her car, taking her car to the tow yard and leaving her to die,” said attorney John Carpenter, who is representing the woman’s family.

“The worker at the tow yard reported a pungent smell coming from the car, and that turned out to be Monica,” he added.

Lopez was originally charged with vehicular manslaughter, but he pleaded down to a charge of DUI causing great bodily injury. He had faced up to six years in prison but was sentenced to one year work furlough and five years of probation.

The family is suing for $50 million in damages.

“Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean that they don’t have a family that loves them,” said Carpenter. “Things are difficult. It’s easy to overlook people that are homeless, but they do have loving families, and they do matter, and this story exemplifies that.”

Images from the case can be viewed on the news video from WKRC-TV on YouTube.

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