By IBRAHIM GRAY<\/p>\n
A Los Angeles judge dismissed criminal charges against a UCLA professor whose failure to enforce proper safety precautions resulted in a 2008 lab fire and the death of a lab assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n Patrick Harran, a professor of chemistry, is thought to be the first American professor criminally charged for an academic lab accident.<\/span><\/p>\n Sheharbano \u201cSheri\u201d Sangji was working as a lab assistant in Harran\u2019s lab to save money for law school when a bottle of tert-Butyllithium, a chemical that ignites when exposed to air, spilled and started a fire. She was not wearing a lab coat at the time and did not go under the emergency shower until emergency responders arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n Sangji suffered second-\u00a0and third-degree burns on more than 40 percent of her body, which ultimately caused her death in January 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n Harran agreed to a deferred prosecution deal in 2014 that would dismiss charges if he fulfilled a number of requirements for five years. These requirements included performing 800 hours of community service in the UCLA Hospitals, teaching organic chemistry classes to inner-city students in the summer and paying $10,000 to the Grossman Burn Center.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the original agreement was supposed to end June 2019, a Superior Court judge shortened the length of the agreement at the request of Harran\u2019s attorney. Had he been convicted on all charges, Harran could have faced up to 4 1\/2 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By IBRAHIM GRAY A Los Angeles judge dismissed criminal charges against a UCLA professor whose failure to enforce proper safety precautions resulted in a 2008 lab fire and the death of a lab assistant. Patrick Harran, a professor of chemistry, … Continue reading