Lawsuit Filed Against Famous Guitarist for Fatal Pedestrian Collision

A lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court today against Josh Adam Klinghoffer, former guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The suit was filed on behalf of the family of Israel Sanchez, a pedestrian who was fatally hit by Klinghoffer’s vehicle in Alhambra.

There is video evidence suggesting that Klinghoffer was distracted by his cell phone before striking Sanchez last March, yet the guitarist has not been arrested and no charges have been filed. Both Ashley Sanchez, the victim’s daughter, and her attorney attribute the lack of justice to celebrity privilege.

“There's been no accountability here. The cops didn't look at his cell phone. They didn't canvas the area and look at the cameras. Why? Because he's a rock star,” Nick Rowley said, the family’s attorney and co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice.

Rowley says that after the failure of the criminal justice system, the family is turning to civil processes, though he says the suit is not about finances.

“It's about making sure that something like this doesn't happen again. We have somebody who many people in the world look up to. This is somebody who's a role model,” Rowley said.

According to Ashley Sanchez, her father was on his way to the grocery store to buy ingredients for family dinner when the incident happened. The video shows Sanchez using the crosswalk safely, looking both ways, and already over halfway across the street when the vehicle struck him from behind. He was pronounced dead at Huntington Hospital at 5:28 p.m. after suffering blunt force trauma to the head.

The incident is not characterized as a hit and run by police, since they say Klinghoffer later pulled over, though the family of the victim say that he did not make any efforts to brake or slow down immediately after.

“Mr. Klinghoffer should be arrested and prosecuted for homicide… We will not stop until there is accountability and justice for Mr. Sanchez and his family,” Rowley said.

Despite the evidence against him, Klinghoffer’s attorney, Berk Brettler describes the incident as a “tragic accident”.

“After the car struck the pedestrian, Josh immediately pulled over, stopped the vehicle, called 911, and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. He is fully cooperating with the traffic investigation,” Brettler said.

Klinghoffer is currently in Italy on tour with Pearl Jam, and previously performed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019. He was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

Ashley Sanchez describes her father as an artist at heart, who showed his love through cooking and painting. She brought a small watercolor painting done by her father of a meteor shower, explaining that on the night her father passed, a meteor shower lit up the night sky.

“That was him going home,” she said.