365 days have passed. On January 25, 2022, Luciano Aranda, a 14-year-old boy who was playing soccer in a square in the Alto Alberdi neighborhood, received an electric shock when he leaned on a public lighting pole. His 12-year-old brother also received a shock and had to be hospitalized.
After discussing whether or not the pole had been vandalized, the municipality “quarantined” all the green spaces in the capital: it turned them off until it was certain that they were electrically safe. In the vast majority of these spaces, poles, wiring and lighting had to be replaced. A part of the places under examination are still turned off.
the court case
For negligence and omission of duties, District Attorney 1 Shift 2, Guillermo González charged four municipal employees: Hugo Chocobares, Ramón Cuello (head of Public Lighting Maintenance), Marcos Farioli and Julio Sebastián Banegas, both in charge of Maintenance. He considered them presumed responsible for “culpable homicide.” In December, the defendants were summoned for an investigation, they declared, and with this procedure, the case was very close to being brought to trial, according to the understanding of the lawyer representing the Aranda family, Carlos Nayi. “The evidence is solid and compelling and all that remains is to evacuate some quotes, some testimonials. The criminal figure defines that there was no intention to kill, but that he killed himself recklessly, negligently, for not acting with the care that corresponded to his function, ”described the criminal lawyer. The prosecutor’s office confirmed that what would remain pending would be to corroborate some information provided in those statements and summon some people involved in those testimonies to testify.
There are no political or higher-ranking officials charged and this is due, as Nayi explained, to the fact that it might not be proven that they were aware of the deficiencies in the maintenance of lighting in that sector of the city. They do not understand, from Justice, that the accusations are going to be expanded or that someone else is accused.
Cuello himself and Omar Álvarez (Head of Maintenance Zone 4) González also accused them of alleged culpable injuries to the detriment of Javier Willington, son of Daniel –historic footballer of the Talleres club-, who received an electric shock walking along a sidewalk in the Jardín neighborhood , a few weeks before the incident with Luciano Aranda.
Along with the criminal lawsuit, the Aranda family maintains a civil action for reparation once morest the Municipality of Córdoba.
