According to testimony presented in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday, the lady who died after an explosion at a suspected drug lab destroyed a Sunset District home was a mother of two kids.
Rita Price, 51, was confirmed as the deceased by the San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner’s Office early on Wednesday.
The defendant in the crime, Darron Price, showed up in court on Wednesday after being accused of several offenses. His court appearance was continued till Friday at 9 a.m.
Involuntary manslaughter, producing a controlled substance, four counts of reckless burning, two counts of endangering children, and one of elder abuse are among the charges against Price. The criminal complaint also claims that one of the victims was severely injured by Price.
He has been permitted to communicate with his two daughters, who are 14 and 17, thanks to the persuasive arguments made by Assistant Public Defender Sierra Villaran before Judge Victor Hwang.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Price was not the children’s biological father; the court will decide on a protection order for their upbringing on Friday.
“We vehemently deny these accusations,” Villaran said after the hearing. “Mr. Price will be exonerated. It is not very good what this family is going through and what he is going through. And the pain they are processing while having Mr. Price in custody is impossible to describe.”
Before Price’s initial court appearance on Wednesday, district attorney Brooke Jenkins made the charges against him public.
Following the explosion on February 9 that officials believe may have been brought on by an illegal hash oil business, the 53-year-old was detained on Friday.
The 22nd Avenue residence was utterly destroyed by the explosion on February 9, and a fire spread to other structures.
Investigators claim to have discovered Ms. Price’s body among the debris, along with butane tanks, ovens, and “other components associated with preparing hash oil with volatile solvents,” According to the DA.
According to the DA’s Office, acetone and other hazardous and highly flammable solvents were discovered in a jar of probable hash oil found in the rubble.
According to local supervisor Joel Engardio, the incident highlights a different element of San Francisco’s drug crisis: the risks posed by drug labs.
“Dangerous manufacturing of drugs that blows up a house and causes death and mayhem in a neighborhood is as serious as dealing deadly fentanyl in an open-air drug market,” he said in a statement.
Jenkins stated that her agency will aid the neighborhood of Outer Sunset in its reconstruction and that the charges reflect the seriousness of what occurred.
Jenkins stated in a press statement that “we must send a strong message that the production of deadly drugs will not be accepted in San Francisco; this activity is destructive not just for the individuals involved but also for entire communities as this case so tragically reveals.”
Since the incident, two GoFundMe sites have been created, one for a family who supposedly lost everything and the other for a caretaker who worked in residence.
For almost 4 years, Jason Martin has been a freelance writer for newspapers, journals, blogs, books, and online material. He covers the most recent news as well as many other topics.