An Orleans Parish judge has ruled that Coroner Dwight McKenna’s office is liable for “reckless and outrageous misconduct” when it failed to identify a man who died of a drug overdose and misled his parents for months.
Civil District Judge Kern Reese agreed with plaintiffs Sherry and Theron Pfantz that McKenna’s office neglected its legal duty by failing to take additional steps after a New Orleans Police Department officer conducted a fingerprint search and misspelled their son Benjamin’s last name as “Peantz.”
“The coroner took absolutely no action whatsoever,” Reese wrote in his Wednesday order, which followed a two-day trial on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. “This inaction sent Benjamin’s parents on an excruciating search for their missing son.”…