When 3-year-old Kai Bernabe drowned in the backyard pool at his family’s suburban Los Angeles home, authorities chalked up the toddler’s shocking death to a horrible mishap.

As a police spokeswoman told reporters at an April 2023 press conference, “There’s nothing to indicate anything beyond a tragic accident here.”

However, Kai’s mom and dad now say otherwise.

A heartbreaking lawsuit obtained by The Independent reveals for the first time how Kai and his twin brother Liam, who also fell into the pool but miraculously survived, ended up in the water to begin with — and places the majority of the blame squarely on Amazon, the mega-retailer owned by Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man.

In an email on Wednesday, attorney Andy Morrow, who is representing the family, said, “Unfortunately it is our policy not to comment on pending litigation. I hope you understand.”

The attorneys defending Amazon in the case, along with a company spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment.

On April 21, 2023, after “an active early morning,” Kai, Liam, and parents Mark Bernabe and Jasmine Coleman laid down for a nap, according to the suit, which was removed last Friday from Los Angeles County Superior Court to Los Angeles federal court. Before turning in, the couple’s complaint says they made sure the sliding glass door to the backyard was securely locked, as always.

“Ordinarily the two toddlers would wake their parents up when they got up,” the complaint states. “But on this day, they didn’t. Video footage reveals they left their parents asleep and went to the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard, placed a chair against the glass and the lock failed and unlatched.”

After the twins went outside and played for a bit, they both entered the pool, according to the complaint. Minutes later, it continues, Coleman can be seen on security footage exiting the house and spotting Kai, unconscious, in the pool’s shallow end. She grabbed his lifeless body and ran back inside, performing CPR on Kai while yelling to Bernabe, who was still asleep, that Liam was missing, the complaint goes on.

Mark jumped out of bed and immediately ran outside, where the complaint says he discovered Liam, unresponsive, in the deep end of the pool.

“He immediately called 911 and Los Angeles Fire Department personnel were dispatched to the… residence,” according to the complaint.

The boys were rushed from the house, in Porter Ranch, to the pediatric trauma center at Northridge Hospital, where Kai was pronounced dead. Following a desperate fight for his life, Liam, pulled through.

“There are no words to describe the pain the family is feeling,” a friend wrote in a GoFundMe campaign that raised nearly $80,000. “This fundraiser is an effort to relieve the family of the financial toll of this tragic and unexpected loss.”

In their complaint, Bernabe and Coleman blame Amazon for selling them a “defectively designed” sliding-door lock that was “unsafe for the uses and purposes for which it was intended.”

“In addition to the ease and security of the purchase on Amazon.com… Coleman was drawn to the… product for its Amazon-advertised price, Amazon-advertised convenience and ease of installment, [and] Amazon-advertised design and durability,” the complaint states. “But most importantly to her as a mother of small children were its Amazon-advertised safety features.”

According to the complaint, the Amazon listing called the lock a “Child Proof Safety Device,” and described it as “durable and effective.”

“This kid stopper has been proven to withstand the pulls and tugs of babies and children, keep doors and windows opened [sic] and safe!” it read. “Featured [sic] on safes [sic] includes pry resistant door, durable double layer steel housing and seamlessly welded pry proof steel body for the ultimate prevention against break in.”

Although the language used was clunky and riddled with errors, Coleman trusted Amazon and ordered the lock, the complaint says, installing it, upon arrival, on her home’s sliding glass door, according to the enclosed operating instructions.

Amazon and Okefan, the lock’s manufacturer, “failed to conduct adequate testing” of the sliding-door lock, which contained “locking mechanism deficiencies [that] do not withstand the pulls and tugs of babies and children… despite claims of ‘pry proof’ construction,” according to the complaint. It says both entities knew of the issues via “ongoing consumer complaints” on the Amazon website and across social media, about small children being able to defeat the lock “with just a bit of force.”

For its part, Bernabe and Coleman’s complaint says they relied on Amazon to ensure the products for sale on its site were reliable, and that the company would “transmit any relevant warnings” about them.

Okefan, which is listed in the lawsuit as a co-defendant but was unable to be reached for comment, maintains a rudimentary website without specifying where in the world the company is located. A “contact” page, which is devoid of any contact information, tells prospective customers that Okefan “service[s] our clients by providing them with the [sic] quality child safety locks at the most competitive price in the market, and the package [sic] would be shipped via DHL, UPS, FedEx courier etc. In case of more asistance [sic] about return policy, it is welcome [sic] to make us the feedback [sic] below.”

Among other things, Amazon argued in a response filed by its attorneys that, if the door lock was defective or dangerous, it “did not know and had no reason to know that that was the case,” and denied that the company was “negligent, careless, reckless, wanton, acted unlawfully, or is liable in the manner alleged or otherwise.”

It said the third-party item “complied with all applicable industry standards,” and that the family “may have misused, abused, altered, and/or improperly maintained, and/or used the product in a manner other than it was intended to be used, and disregarded the warnings, instructions, and directions for the product’s use.”

Bernabe and Coleman are asking for a jury trial and a minimum of $2 million in damages. Both sides are scheduled to appear in court for an initial conference on May 2.