Wrongful death claim filed after son’s death
Father claims sheriff’s office negligent in not following safety rules
DUBLIN »
A father wants answers for his son’s death at Santa Rita Jail, saying in a claim against the county that the young man should have been checked on regularly after he showed signs of medical distress before his death in February.
D. Scott Andrews filed a claim against Alameda County in late August for his son’s wrongful death, claiming the sheriff’s office was negligent in following safety rules, which he contends were violated. Jonah Andrews, 25, died Feb. 26 after being found unresponsive at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He was found with a high level of fluoxetine, commonly known as Prozac, in his system. His death was ruled accidental from complications from the medication, which he had been prescribed because of his diagnosed schizoaffective disorder.
But his father says jail staff saw that Jonah Andrews was clearly
in medical distress, as he was seen drinking a large amount of water and then vomiting. But officials did not check on him every half hour as they were supposed to. Instead, a deputy left him in a jail cell alone for an hour, before finding him unresponsive and foaming at the mouth.
“I’m trying to have a better understanding of what happened,” Scott Andrews said in an interview.
“It’s kind of like throwing a rock into a pond and making some ripples. Those ripples will join with others, and maybe it will make a splash, or maybe it will die out. This is our way of communication and bringing these things out to light,” he said.
Jonah Andrews had been in jail since Jan. 14. He had earlier broken into a house in Berkeley owned by his father, who had called police in order to get him help. He had been released, and was due back in court for a mental health court hearing earlier this year. But when he failed to show up, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, his father said.
“He was never mad at us for reporting him. He thought it was what we should do,” Scott Andrews said.
Since his arrest, Jonah Andrews had been waiting for a bed to open up for him at a mental health facility. On the day he died, from 9:50 a.m. to noon, Andrews was seen by other inmates and deputies drinking an “unusual amount of water and vomiting,” according to a jail report. But despite the odd behavior, the deputy that noticed “did not summon any medical aid for Andrews,” according to the claim.
Andrews allegedly refused medical aid from the deputy. But the claim maintains that the deputy is liable if he knew that Andrews needed immediate medical care and failed to take reasonable action. Instead, the young man was left alone in a cell for over an hour without close observation, and found unresponsive by 1:33 p.m., according to the claim.
“Had (the deputy) summoned medical care while Andrews was coherent and conscious, Andrews may be alive today,” the claim says.
Andrews had been moved to a cell by himself around noon that day after a potential conflict with his cellmate. His cellmate told a deputy that if Andrews threw up in the cell “it’s going to be a problem,” according to the claim. The system allegedly had not been updated to show Andrews had been moved, which meant that only one deputy was aware of Andrews’ location before his death.
Andrews was seen snorting a white substance earlier that day.
“Based on the limited information the firm has to date, it remains unclear how Andrews obtained toxic amounts of fluoxetine, and if prescribed, how medication was administered to Andrews and what steps were taken to ensure Andrews did not obtain toxic amounts of medication,” the claim says.
Jonah Andrews’ father says his son was “a good kid,” but began having troubles after his mother died his sophomore year of high school. Andrews was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. His father describes him as a “carpe diem-kind of person” who always went to school and graduated from Berkeley
High, but wasn’t very into school.
“People with mental health issues, still have things to offer the world,” his father said.
Jonah Andrews would sometimes hear voices, telling him to break into his father’s house and play video games, his father said. Although his son had lived with him and his wife (Jonah’s stepmother) for a while, after some conflicts, Scott Andrews got him his own place. But the son would still occasionally break into his parents’ home. “We wanted to get him help, but he wasn’t volunteering for care,” his father said.
Jonah Andrews loved his dog, JoJo, so much so that their ashes are now together under a tree, in a memorial forest in Mendocino County. On his grave marker in that forest, his father put a quote of what his son used to say when he would put on performances: “I am Jonah Begonia,” as well as a quote from his favorite rapper Little Wayne: “Never apologize 4 what U feel.”
Alameda County counsel did not respond to a request for comment. The county has 45 days from when the claim is filed to respond or reject the claim. If the county rejects the claim, Andrews’ attorney can file a lawsuit.