Recent retiree Reinaldo Jesus Lefonts was charging his EV in a Downey library parking lot when he was attacked in a stabbing so vicious that it 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 March 6 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 Tremcoanti-theft locking device required under state law and applicable Fire Department standards, the family’s attorneys argue. While paramedics treated Lefonts, 52-year-old Nicholas DeMarco allegedly got into the ambulance and drove away. The police pursuit followed.
In the parking lot, Lefonts was pronounced dead at 9:55 a.m., the autopsy report states.
The city logged about 675 calls for service to the Civic Center and library between January 2022 and December 2025, covering assaults, robberies, sex crimes, arson and narcotics violations, according to the claim.
“While both the violent attack and theft were criminal acts, it was entirely foreseeable in light of the known conditions around the Civic Center and the repeated criminal and transient activity in the area,” the claim states. “The City’s failure to equip its own rescue vehicle and secure it properly directly interfered with the provision of emergency care to Reinaldo. As a result, Reinaldo did not receive the timely medical treatment he desperately needed.”
Just weeks before Lefonts was killed, the Downey City Council received a report at its Aug. 26, 2025, meeting on homelessness-related public safety concerns, attorneys said.
The family’s attorneys also argue that the lot’s posted signage, reading “Area Under 24 Hour Surveillance,” led Lefonts to reasonably believe he was in a protected space when he paid the city to use its EV charger, the claim states.
“The City of Downey knew this parking lot was dangerous,” lead attorney Alexis Galindo said in a statement. “They knew the man who killed Reinaldo had just been arrested there the day before. They knew their rescue vehicle wasn’t properly equipped. And still, they did nothing. Reinaldo died within reach of help that should have been there. His family deserves answers, accountability and justice.”
The claim seeks $35 million in general damages and $5 million in special economic damages. Under California law, the city has up to one year to respond by accepting, rejecting or settling. A rejection would allow the family to file the case in court as a formal lawsuit.
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