A new wrongful death lawsuit was filed against prominent political donor and activist Ed Buck. Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 News on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.
The family of the second man found dead inside the West Hollywood apartment of prominent political donor and activist Ed Buck has sued for wrongful death.
A complaint filed this week in LA Superior Court by Timothy Dean’s sisters says Buck should be held legally liable for Dean’s death on January 7, 2019, and it accuses Buck of sexual battery, assault, hate violence, and drug dealer liability.
Buck has denied he was responsible for Dean’s death.
He has pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges that accuse him of supplying the illegal drugs that led to the deaths of Dean and another man, Gemmel Moore, who died in Buck’s apartment in July, 2017.
Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, has also sued Buck. An attorney for both families said these lawsuits go far beyond the criminal charges.
“The civil suits are important because they seek to hold Ed Buck specifically accountable for engaging in racially- and sexually-motivated hate violence against Black gay men,” attorney Hussain Turk told NBCLA.
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“These cases are not just about furnishing drugs that resulted in deaths and grievous bodily injuries, these cases are colored by the racial identities and social positions of the victims and the perpetrator.”
Buck, 65, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in October, 2019, and the case also includes three counts of distributing methamphetamine to three other men between 2018 and 2019. Buck could face a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison if he's convicted.
He's being held in federal custody without bail.
Buck was initially arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies on state felony charges in September, 2019 that accused him of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house.
The LA County District Attorney's Office said those charges stemmed from the life threatening drug overdoses of a man identified in court documents as, Joe Doe, on Sept. 4 and 11, but were otherwise unrelated to the deaths of Moore and Dean.
