California grandfather, 72, ‘boiled alive’ in scalding hotel shower, suit claims

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Santa Clara County Superior Court, family members of Los Angeles resident Terril Johnson, 72, allege scalding shower water as hot as 136 degrees led to his death in a San Jose hotel, according to multiple media reports.  

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Johnson made the six-hour drive to San Jose with his family to see his gymnast granddaughter graduate from San Jose State University on May 22.  

After arriving at the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites San Jose Airport, the 72-year-old opted for a shower that, according to the lawsuit, “effectively boiled him alive,” the L.A. Times reported.  

It was Johnson’s grandson who went into the bathroom to check on his grandfather and found him unresponsive, partially submerged in the bathtub in water so hot that family members were unable to immediately pull him out.  

Struggling to render life-saving measures, court documents claim family members “were forced to watch in horror as his skin peeled away from his body.”  

According to The Mercury News, the 72-year-old’s son, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters, including Trinity who was to graduate the next day, were present in the hotel room at the time.  

The Santa Clara County medical examiner ruled that Johnson suffered burns to more than 33% of his body, the severe scalding leading to his death.  

Born in Indiana, the former U.S. Marine served in Vietnam, was married to his high school sweetheart for 54 years, with the couple having two children and four grandchildren. After his time in the military, he moved to California and had recently retired from the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority where he worked as a senior lead technician. 

Plumbing code in California for individual showers and tub showers, according to The Times, should be no hotter than 120 degrees. The suit alleges that the water coming from the hotel shower was between 134 to 136 degrees.  

“This was not a freak accident,” court documents state. “It was the direct result of Defendant’s gross negligence and failure to meet even basic safety obligations.”