WIDOW OF INMATE FILES WRONGFUL-DEATH LAWSUIT

Complaint: Man should have been monitored in cell at Central Jail

Omar Moreno Arroyo was the first person to die in San Diego County custody this year. Now his widow is the latest plaintiff to sue Sheriff Bill Gore for wrongful death.

The complaint filed this week by Tammy Wilson says Arroyo “was in a state of acute methamphetamine intoxication and agitation” when sheriff’s deputies arrested him in the couple’s Julian home in January. It said he should have been taken to a hospital.

Instead, the 33-year-old was booked into the county’s Central Jail, where he was left unmonitored in a holding cell for nearly 10 hours, the lawsuit says.

Despite Sheriff’s Department protocols that require detainees suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol to be placed in “a protective environment” that allows for close observation, Arroyo was left alone and unmonitored, the complaint states.

In an emailed statement, spokeswoman Lt. Amber Baggs said the Sheriff’s Department “strives to provide the safest care to people who come into our jails and we are saddened Mr. Arroyo died while being processed at our jail early this year.

“We send our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Mr. Arroyo’s wife and family,” she added.

According to the medical examiner’s report, video footage from inside the holding cell shows Arroyo sitting on a bench before collapsing forward onto the floor and experiencing “seizure-like activity.”

The medical examiner concluded that Arroyo died from an airway obstruction caused by “ingestion of cloth mask and food bolus,” with acute methamphetamine intoxication being a contributing factor.

The county is currently facing at least 10 other lawsuits tied to deaths or serious injuries in local jails. This year alone, the county has settled or been forced to pay $15 million in five jail-related cases.

Attorney Julia Yoo, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Arroyo’s widow,

said the death was preventable.

“Omar’s death is so tragic because all of the signs that Omar needed help were entirely obvious, and the options for helping a vulnerable person were markedly simple and readily available,” she said.

Wilson called 911 for help on the morning of Jan. 6. She told dispatchers that her husband was acting erratically but was nonviolent and did not want to go to a hospital.

The dispatcher recorded the call as a “5150,” the state Welfare and Institutions Code section for a psychiatric case. Sheriff’s deputies responded and arrested Arroyo on suspicion of being under the inf luence and possessing drug paraphernalia after they found a pipe in the house.

According to the lawsuit, deputies took Arroyo’s pulse and found his heart rate was 160 beats per minute — much higher than the normal rate of 60 to 100. Wilson told them her husband had a heart condition and gave them his medication, the lawsuit said.

But when deputies arrived downtown, they neglected to inform jail staff that Arroyo had a high heart rate and appeared to be under the influence, the suit says.

Intake staff gave him a mask and took an X-ray, which appeared to show a foreign object in his abdomen. Even so, jail staff did not take Arroyo to a hospital, the lawsuit says; instead they designated him as “book and release” and placed him in a holding cell.

It is unclear from available records when Arroyo had a seizure. His autopsy report says paramedics were summoned at 10:48 p.m., arrived at 11:03 p.m. and spent 20 minutes trying to revive him.

The lawsuit accuses jail medical staff of being slow to respond to Arroyo’s seizure. A nurse and deputy are both named as co-defendants in the case.

“Despite Omar’s critical medical distress, no jail personnel responded properly or timely,” the suit says. “Jail personnel did not commence life-saving measures until it was too late. Omar Moreno died on the floor of his jail cell.”

In the meantime, the jail had contacted Wilson at 7:30 p.m. to tell her that her husband was in the process of being released from custody. She drove to the jail and waited outside, checking with department officials every 45 minutes, the lawsuit says.

Jail staff waited until 5 a.m. on Jan. 7 to tell Wilson that her husband had died.

Baggs said the Sheriff’s Department has opened an internal affairs investigation into the circumstances surrounding Arroyo’s death. But it could be months before any findings are reached and the results may not be made public, unless they are disclosed through the litigation.

The Arroyo lawsuit describes other inmate deaths, which it says are linked to allegations of negligence by jail employees and deputies who allegedly failed to properly communicate with coworkers about inmates’ medical conditions.

“Even though inmates are dying or suffering catastrophic injuries at an alarming rate at San Diego County jails, the medical and correctional staff whose actions or inactions cause the deaths are not investigated, not informed of their failures, not given further training or remedial instruction, and are not monitored or closely supervised after these adverse events,” the lawsuit asserts.

“No medical or correctional staff faced any consequence for their conduct,” it adds.

Employee discipline within the Sheriff ’s Department is difficult to track due to confidentiality rules that protect law enforcement professionals.

Earlier this month, however, District Attorney Summer Stephan announced criminal charges against a jail nurse in the death of 24year-old Elisa Serna, who died at the Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee after allegedly not receiving proper medical care.

Yoo and her law partner, Eugene Iredale, also represent the Serna family in a negligence lawsuit against San Diego County.

Since Arroyo’s death in January, a dozen other inmates have died in San Diego County custody. The 13 deaths so far this year match the number of in-custody deaths recorded last year.

Since 2009, when Gore first became sheriff, San Diego County jails have seen as few as eight deaths in a year and as many as 17. The 26 deaths since the start of 2020 have occurred despite the current reduction in jail population by roughly 25 percent due to COVID-19.

Last week the Sheriff’s Department was sued by a transgender woman who said she was severely beaten and suffered a fractured jaw after deputies placed her into a cell with three men.