Family launches lawsuit against West Edmonton Mall, Cineplex Entertainment following teen death
CBC
The family of a 16-year-old girl who died from hypothermia after being discovered unresponsive in the parking lot of West Edmonton Mall is suing North America's largest mall and Cineplex Entertainment.
Jasmin Kyle was left unconscious for seven hours in the parking lot on a cold night in December 2019 before she was found by a grader operator at around 3 a.m.
Police were called to the scene and performed CPR before transporting her to the Misericordia Hospital where she later died.
An autopsy later revealed Jasmin was heavily intoxicated at the time of her death. She also had cannabis in her system. The death was deemed accidental.
"I still can't believe she's gone," Jasmin's grandmother Debbie Sandberg told CBC News.
"It's left a huge hole in our heart and it's forever changed our family."
Sandberg filed the lawsuit five months ago but is only now speaking about Jasmin's death.
Two unnamed security guards are also named as part of the $165,000 lawsuit.
On Dec. 6, 2019, Jasmin told her grandparents she was going to a movie with a girlfriend followed by a sleepover.
But instead, Jasmin and a friend ended up at West Edmonton Mall and the Rec Room, which is owned by Cineplex Entertainment.
Sandberg is not sure how her granddaughter had access to alcohol, but she said police told her that surveillance video showed Jasmin and seven other young people outside the Rec Room.
"They were seen on the video cameras out in the parking lot of the Rec Room drinking and having snowball fights and stuff like that," Sandberg said.
According to the autopsy report, CCTV footage showed Jasmin leaving the Rec Room at 6:50 p.m. She said when police viewed the footage, they spotted Jasmin at 7:33 p.m. running up some parking lot stairs, chasing after another girl and laughing.
The autopsy report says a complaint was made at around 8 p.m. to West Edmonton Mall about an intoxicated female passed out in the same parking lot area where Jasmin was ultimately discovered.