The family of an entertainment attorney who was fatally struck by a patrol car as he rode his bike on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas is suing the sheriff's department, the county of L.A. and the cop involved.

The suit, filed yesterday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claims Deputy Andrew Wood was “negligently,” “carelessly” and “recklessly” driving a patrol car in the 22000 block of Mulholland Highway at 1:05 p.m. on Dec. 8 when the vehicle fatally struck 65-year-old Milton Olin, Jr.

See also: Milton Olin, Napster Exec, Fatally Hit by Cop Car in Calabasas

A search warrant affidavit recently obtained by the L.A. Daily News says that the deputy was sending texts between 1 and 1:04 p.m. that day:
]
The cop had been on a call at Calabasas High School, less than a mile away, shortly before the collision occurred. 

A deputy wrote in the affidavit that …

Witnesses who were in a vehicle directly behind Deputy Wood’s radio car at the time of the collision told investigators that the radio car failed to negotiate the left curve in the roadway and proceeded straight into the bicycle lane.

The suit on behalf of Olin's family and estate seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000 and accuses Wood, the department and county government of negligence.

Lead attorney Bruce Broillet said:

This accident should have never happened. The negligence of a sheriff’s deputy caused this terrible tragedy.

Broillet alleged in a statement that sheriff's traffic investigators have withheld any conclusions about the accident for more than eight months.

The family is deeply frustrated by the lack of information coming out of the Sheriff’s Department’s investigation. We intend to seek justice for Milton Olin and his loved ones.

Olin lived in Woodland hills and was a partner at Altschul & Olin LLP in Encino. His resume also included work as COO of Napster, as an executive at A&M Records, and as a senior counsel at powerhouse L.A. law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips.

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