Supervisors zero in on aborted IA probe of major jail-injury case
SAN JOSE >> The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is training its legal arm and civilian police auditor on why the sheriff’s office scuttled an internal investigation into a mentally ill man seriously injured in a jailtransport van, a case that yielded an eight-figure settlement and underpins a wider probe into South Bay jail misconduct.
A segment of the board meeting on Sept. 14 focused on newly public documents centered on the 2018 injuries suffered by Andrew Hogan, who in the midst of a psychiatric emergency repeatedly hit his head against the side of a jail-transport van while he was being taken from the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas to the Main Jail in San Jose, which houses a psychiatric services wing.
Supervisor Joe Simitian and the board directed County Counsel James Williams and Michael Gennaco, the board-appointed head of the Office of County Law Enforcement Monitoring, to answer why the sheriff’s office stopped investigating what happened to Hogan.
“Who authorized the suppression of the internal-affairs investigation, and for what reason?” Simitian said.
Gennaco said he has been stymied three times trying to access information about the case, and reaffirmed his intent to work with the county counsel’s office to obtain a subpoena for the sheriff’s office. He said that the abrupt termination of an internal-affairs investigation should be “a rare circumstance that should be reserved for extraordinary situations.”
“We certainly have a whole host of questions regarding accountability issues,” Gennaco said, “which really cannot be answered until information is provided.”
Hogan’s family received a $10 million settlement last year to resolve a lawsuit alleging that jail staff’s neglect and indifference delayed medical treatment for Hogan, who is severely disabled. Previously confidential details were released over the past week in accordance with a request by Simitian and Supervisor Otto Lee intended in part to prompt external local, state and federal investigations into corruption allegations and serious injuries of people being held at county jails.
That request was followed by the board’s unanimous no-confidence vote in Sheriff Laurie Smith on Aug. 31.
The new details about the Hogan case are contained in a redacted county counsel memo that recommended the high-figure settlement and a newer second-look review of the incident by county-appointed civilian auditor Michael Gennaco. They both assessed heavy county liability from a general lack of urgency and a jail supervisor’s refusal to have anyone tend to Hogan as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
The county counsel memo justifies the $10 million settlement by arguing that the county would likely lose a civil trial and could be liable for up to twice that amount, stating that the county “breached its duty to safely transport Hogan from Elmwood to the Main Jail. At the Main Jail, staff did not adequately monitor Hogan and delayed his medical care and transport.” Gennaco’s report stated that “there was an abject failure” in keeping Hogan safe once he was in jail custody.
According to the two documents just released, on Aug. 25, 2018, after a nurse called for an ambulance response for a major head injury, a supervisor briefly peered inside the van and advised waiting for a hazmatsuited team to help Hogan because of the blood inside.
Until then, Hogan “could do all the damage he wants,” the unnamed supervisor said, according to an audio recording cited in both documents. Hogan pleaded for help as jail staff stood “casually” and Hogan lapsed into unconsciousness.
Gennaco’s report, echoing Simitian and Lee’s prior implications, also entertains the notion that politics factored into the scuttled investigation. Amy Le, who was a lieutenant and watch commander when Hogan arrived at the Main Jail, headed the correctional officers’ union that politically and financially backed Smith’s contentious 2018 re-election bid. Le was promoted that Dec. 3 — nine days before the IA probe ceased — though she retired the following year in a dispute over which she is now suing the sheriff’s office.
Smith has repeatedly objected to the board’s re-evaluation of the Hogan case and other highprofile jail-injury cases, portraying it as politically driven and ignoring how a dearth of safety-net programs for mentally ill people have made the jails a de facto facility for psychiatric treatment they’re not equipped to robustly provide. She has been backed by attorney Paula Canny, who represented the families of Hogan and Michael Tyree, whose 2015 beating death by three jail deputies kicked off a sweeping reform agenda for the county jails.
In previous remarks, Canny called the re-litigation of Hogan’s case “Machiavellian bulls***.” Brian Hedley, a private investigator who works with Canny, spoke on her behalf at Tuesday’s board meeting with similar sentiments.
“It is shameful to use the Hogan case as a sword against Sheriff Smith now,” Hedley said. “You all should be ashamed.”
Supervisor Susan Ellenberg referenced how the county counsel memo and Gennaco’s report highlighted lapses in training and policy for how to treat and transport mentally ill people — some reforms have since been instituted — but emphasized that bigger institutional problems with the jails persist.