{"id":852431,"date":"2026-06-08T08:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852431\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T08:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:01:51","slug":"advocates-speak-out-after-man-found-in-hot-van-at-mesa-care-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852431\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates speak out after man found in hot van at Mesa care facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Disability \"Disability <\/p>\n

MESA, Ariz.<\/strong> – Disability rights advocates are calling for accountability and a review of oversight procedures after a 36-year-old man was found dead inside a van outside a Mesa facility that serves people with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Police said Lorenzo Lopez was found inside a van outside a Pathways for Life facility. Sources told FOX10 Lopez was dropped off at the facility, located at Lindsay Road and Adobe Street<\/strong><\/a> on June 4. He was reportedly left in the van for hours<\/strong><\/a>, as the outside temperature reached 106 degrees that afternoon.<\/p>\n

According to those sources, a search was initiated after Lopez’s grandmother and caretaker contacted the facility asking why he had not returned home.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

The circumstances surrounding Lopez’s death have sparked concern among disability rights advocates, who say such incidents should never occur.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be corrective action,” said J.J. Rico, CEO of Disability Rights Arizona<\/strong><\/a>, an organization that provides legal advocacy to protect people with disabilities from abuse and neglect.<\/p>\n

Rico said he was shocked to learn that a man with developmental disabilities had been found dead inside a van outside the Mesa facility.<\/p>\n

“There’s always room for improvement regardless of what they discover,” Rico said. “Because that should never be the result of any caregiver,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Parents \"Parents <\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

Drawing on his experience handling abuse and neglect cases involving people with disabilities, Rico said many incidents stem from inadequate staff training.<\/p>\n

“I mean, in countless cases, there’s oftentimes lack of training, training by the staff member to understand the nature of the person’s disability and then how to effectively work with them,” Rico said.<\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/p>\n

Rico encouraged families to remain actively involved in their loved ones’ care and to serve as their strongest advocates.<\/p>\n

He said unusual behavioral changes, fear of certain caregivers, or a sudden loss of interest in familiar activities can be warning signs that something may be wrong.<\/p>\n

Families who suspect abuse or neglect have several reporting options, Rico said, including contacting law enforcement, filing a report with Adult Protective Services, or notifying the care provider and state agencies responsible for oversight.<\/p>\n

“All I can say to those parents out there is to be the advocate that they’ve been probably for their entire life of their child. Ask a lot of questions. Ensure that the services that are being provided are being fulfilled,” Rico said.<\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

Police have not yet determined a cause of death for Lopez.<\/p>\n

The Source:<\/b> A member of an organization that provides legal advocacy to protect people with disabilities and previous FOX 10 reports<\/p>\n

Mesa<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. – Disability rights advocates are calling for accountability and a review of oversight procedures after a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":852432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1588,26789,50,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-852431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-maricopa-county","tag-mesa","tag-news","tag-phoenix","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116713446912804078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}