Cops blew up a fellow officer after finding grenade in garage, falsely reporting it was inert then using it in a prohibited training exercise: Lawsuit

A California police officer died when a fellow cop erroneously thought a hand grenade was inert and used it during a training exercise before it went off, killing him and two others, a lawsuit said.

The widow of Deputy Victor Lemus filed the lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, alleging negligence and insufficient training and supervision of employees.

The incident occurred on July 18, 2025,, at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy and killed Lemus, Det. Joshua Kelley-Eklund and Det. William Osborn.

According to the lawsuit obtained by local NBC affiliate KNBC, The CW affiliate KTLA and the Los Angles Times, Kelley-Eklund and Osborn collected two hand grenades the day before the blast at a Santa Monica parking garage. While the deputies should have responded to the scene in the bomb squad truck, they showed up in their work trucks, the lawsuit said.

The deputies allegedly used an "older X-ray machine" that erroneously showed that the grenades did not contain any explosive material.

One of the deputies allegedly brought the grenade home in his truck. The next morning, the deputy brought it to the training facility where explosive devices are barred, the lawsuit said. Lemus joined Kelley-Eklund and Osborn for a training exercise.

While Lemus had been on the Arson and Explosives Unit for about a year, he had yet to receive the proper training to be in "the immediate presence of live explosive devices," the suit explained.

The trio was conducting a training exercise when either Kelley-Eklund or Osborn allegedly pulled the pin. It exploded, killing all three deputies.

"The explosion made Plaintiff Nancy Lemus a widow and her children, Victoria and Emily, fatherless," the suit said.

A commander at the department also allegedly took photos of Lemus' body which "violated the respect owed to the dead and the privacy of the bereaved by collecting trophies in the form of death images," the suit claims.

Plaintiff lawyers argue that Sheriff Robert Luna should have confiscated the commander's phone and searched it.

"The failure to adequately train, supervise, and discipline personnel regarding the taking of such photographs is a complete dereliction of duty, and can be directly attributed to Sheriff Luna and other members of his command staff," the lawsuit said.

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The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health reportedly levied more than $350,000 in fines against the sheriff's department for safety violations.

Luna released a statement to media outlets in response to the lawsuit.

"Our fallen detectives exemplified the very best of this Department and one year later we continue to mourn their loss, honor their service, and support the families they left behind," Luna said. "Since the tragic incident, the Department is implementing several measures to further strengthen operational safety, including standardizing policies and procedures to ensure greater organizational consistency, introducing new equipment, and refining supervisory response protocols based on the nature of each incident."

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