UCLA professor reaches settlement in 2008 lab fire case

UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran reached a settlement Friday accepting responsibility for conditions in a UCLA laboratory where a 2008 fire led to the death of a 23-year-old staff research assistant.

Harran, 44, will have to teach a high school chemistry course, complete 800 community service hours and pay a $10,000 fine, as part of the settlement approved Friday by Los Angeles County Superior Court judge George Lomeli. He faced up to four and a half years in prison for charges of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards.

On Friday morning, Harran said at a hearing that he was research assistant Sheharbano “Sheri” Sangji’s direct supervisor in the laboratory on the day of the fire, and that he was ultimately responsible for her safety, according to a Los Angeles District Attorney press release.

Sangji was not wearing a protective lab coat when she was handling t-butyl lithium, a highly flammable, air-sensitive chemical, in a Molecular Sciences Building lab. The stopper of her syringe came undone, and the liquid spilled out and ignited.

She was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and transferred to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where she died 18 days later from second- and third-degree burns.

In the settlement, Harran is required to develop and teach a seven-week summer course in organic chemistry for inner-city high school students for five years, according to the press release. He is also required to pay a $10,000 fine to the Grossman Burn Center.

Almost two years ago, Harran and the UC Board of Regents were charged with three felony counts of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards. Charges against the regents were dropped as part of a 2012 plea deal, and Harran was charged with a fourth felony count in 2013.

Harran’s criminal charges will be dropped after five years if he completes the settlement agreement conditions.

Compiled by Sam Hoff, Bruin senior staff.