Judge: Federal Government Negligent In Boy's Death

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge in California has ruled that the U.S. government was negligent in the death of a boy killed when a retaining wall crushed him at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley upheld the earlier findings of a magistrate judge, who found that National Park Service officials intentionally demolished the wall before investigators could examine it.

Nunley's order filed on Monday gives a big boost to a lawsuit the boy's family has filed seeking damages.

In 2009, 9-year-old Tommy Botell and his sister were hiking a trail ascending Lassen Peak and sat on the wall to take photographs. It crumbled and a boulder crushed the boy.

The government maintains that Congress has protected it from wrongful death lawsuits.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.