California’s workplace safety agency has hit the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department with more than $350,000 in fines, finding “willful” safety violations linked to a grenade explosion that killed three bomb squad detectives last summer — and a legal fight over key records is now playing out in court.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) issued eight citations following a months-long investigation into the deadly blast at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles. The explosion, which occurred on July 18, 2025, killed Detectives Victor Lemus, Joshua Kelley-Eklund, and William Osborn instantly.
Kelley-Eklund, 41, and Osborn, 58, had recovered two grenades the day before from a Santa Monica apartment complex. At least one of those grenades was brought to the training facility the next day, where it detonated. The second grenade has never been found.
Cal/OSHA’s citations include a $250,000 fine for failing to ensure detectives wore proper protective equipment when handling explosive ordnance. The department also received additional penalties for failing to document training properly, not identifying hazards tied to transporting and storing explosives, and leaving ordnance unattended.
“This tragedy underscores the responsibility employers have to anticipate hazards and take meaningful steps to protect workers, especially in high-risk operations involving explosive materials,” Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Denisse Gomez said in a statement. The Sheriff’s Department has appealed the findings.
Beyond the fines, a legal dispute between Cal/OSHA and the Sheriff’s Department is now before a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. Of 19 document requests submitted by state investigators, the Sheriff’s Department provided only two, according to a court affidavit filed by a Cal/OSHA investigator. One of the documents handed over — a report describing how the two grenades were initially recovered — was so heavily redacted that it showed only two lines of readable text.
Cal/OSHA filed a civil complaint on January 15, asking a judge to compel the department to turn over records including training logs, dispatch records, custody reports for explosive devices, and X-ray results used to determine — incorrectly — that the grenades were inert.
“Without access to these documents, [Cal/OSHA] cannot complete its fatality investigation, and LASD employees remain exposed to ongoing and unaddressed safety hazards that pose a risk of serious physical injury or further fatalities,” state attorneys argued in court filings.
The Sheriff’s Department, represented by county attorneys, pushed back, arguing some records involve “sensitive and restricted” FBI policies and internal procedures. “LASD did not obstruct the investigation,” county attorneys said in their filings. “LASD produced documents responsive to the initial request and even produced documents after objecting to the Subpoena.”
A legal claim filed by Lemus’ widow Nancy Lemus paints a troubling picture of the events leading up to the explosion. The detectives responded to the Santa Monica scene in personal work trucks rather than the department’s designated bomb truck, which carried higher-quality equipment. Osborn used an older X-ray machine to examine the device and reportedly told Santa Monica officers the grenades were inert.
The legal claim alleges that one of the detectives then stored the seized grenades overnight in their truck or home before driving to the training facility the following day. Lemus, according to his widow’s attorneys, was not trained to FBI bomb school standards as required, and was not expecting a live explosive device to be present at the facility that morning.
The grenade blast has triggered a web of separate investigations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is the lead agency examining the cause of the explosion. The Sheriff’s Department is also running a homicide investigation into the three deaths, and a separate internal probe into the disappearance of the second grenade. A high-ranking sheriff’s official has been relieved of duty in connection with the internal investigation, a department spokesperson confirmed.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times revealed a third criminal investigation is underway, this one examining whether graphic crime scene photos of the detectives’ bodies were improperly shared within the department. Sheriff’s Commander Thomas Giandomenico, a 38-year department veteran, was relieved of duty on the same day that investigation began in September. The probe echoes a scandal that cost Los Angeles County $31 million after first responders shared crash scene photos following the 2020 helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter.
This is not the first time Cal/OSHA has penalized the Sheriff’s Department for serious safety failures. In 2024, the agency fined the department more than $300,000 after a deadly fire at a mobile shooting range trailer outside the Castaic jail complex. Deputy Alfredo “Freddy” Flores died from his injuries in that incident, and two other deputies were hospitalized with burns.
Gomez said the state’s goal remains clear: “The Division hopes to work with the Sheriff’s Department on abatement and help keep all remaining Arson and Explosives employees safe.”
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