MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis said Monday that it should toughen its trespassing policies as a part of a settlement with the family of a boy who was severely injured when a person with a history of causing disturbances on the mall threw the kid from a third-floor balcony.
Additional details of the settlement weren’t released by the boy’s family or the mall.
The boy, identified only as Landen, was 5 when Emmanuel Aranda threw him nearly 40 feet (12.2 meters) to the bottom. Aranda, who had been banned from the Bloomington, Minnesota, mall twice in previous years, told investigators that when went there “in search of someone to kill” after women rejected his advances. He pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the attack on Landen.
The family alleged in a lawsuit filed last yr that mall security must have prevented Aranda from “prowling” on the constructing without an officer following him closely. The lawsuit alleged that the mall and its security detail knew about previous “violent, aggressive, and erratic” behavior that Aranda had displayed on the shopping mall.
In a joint statement announcing the settlement, the mall and the family said they may work together on policy changes to stop similar incidents.
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“Mall of America and the family have agreed to work along with a deal with safety, and already are jointly pursuing policy changes to existing trespass limits for violent criminals in order to provide greater ability to preclude such individuals from their premises,” the statement said.
The lawsuit sought unspecified damages. On the time it was filed, an attorney for the family said the boy had already incurred greater than $1.7 million in medical expenses. Landen’s parents said on their GoFundMe page in 2019 that Landen had greater than 15 medical procedures, including surgeries for 2 broken arms and a broken leg, facial and skull fractures and removal of his spleen.
“The boy’s recovery has been nothing in need of miraculous and the main target stays on his health and wellbeing, which incorporates privacy during this time,” Monday’s statement added. “The Mall and the family will ask that any resulting change be named in honor of the young boy.”
Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter.
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