By JASMYN BEMBOOM
Staff Writer
The mother of 11-year-old Cristian Pineda filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court. The county ignored previous recommendations to winterize its power grid, which sustained an epic failure last week and left more than 4 million customers without heat and electricity as temperatures in some parts of the state plunged to single digits.
Maria Pineda was cleaning the kitchen of a home where she temporarily stayed in Conroe, Texas. On February 18, 2021, her 11-year-old son, Cristian Pavon Pineda, died of suspected hypothermia as temperatures plummeted into the teens.
Cristain died on Tuesday in his family’s mobile home in the Houston suburb of Conroe while sharing a bed with his 3-year-old brother under a pile of blankets in an attempt to stay warm, according to the lawsuit.
As of Sunday, more than 30 people have died in Texas due to the severe weather, including many from carbon monoxide poisoning after people used cars or generators to keep warm during the massive power outage, according to state officials.
Buzbee said he now represented seven families who lost loved ones as a result of the severe weather and said more lawsuits will be filed against power companies.