UC Regents Strike Plea Deal In UCLA Lab Death Case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charges against the University of California regents have dropped in the death of a UCLA research assistant who died following a campus lab fire in 2008.

The Los Angeles Times reports Friday struck a plea deal in which they accepted responsibility for the conditions in which the lab operated the day Sheri Sangji was burned.

The regents agreed to follow comprehensive safety measures and endow a $500,000 environmental law scholarship in Sangji's name at UC Berkeley's law school.

Felony charges remained against UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran, who prosecutors contend violated occupational health and safety standards in the lab.

Sangji was burned over nearly half of her body when air-sensitive chemicals burst into flames and ignited her clothes in the lab. She died 18 days later.

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