Family sues over woman’s death in county jail

Brianna Romero, 20, died after overdosing twice in custody

Family members of Brianna Romero, a 20-year-old Santa Fe woman who died in custody in 2021, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Santa Fe County alleging police and jail employees failed to monitor her condition, allowing her to die of a drug overdose.

“This heartbreaking series of incidents underscores the tragedy that has befallen Brianna — a beloved mother, sister and daughter,” the family’s attorney, Sam Ruyle, wrote in a text Monday.

“The profound failure of our system at every crucial juncture cannot be overlooked. Had the institutions entrusted with her well-being shown the vigilance and care she deserved, Brianna would undoubtably be with us today. It is a distressing reality that she was callously discarded, as if her life held no value,” he added.

Romero was one of three people — including her then-23-year-old sister and a 16-year-old boy — arrested Sept. 30, 2021, in connection with a series of drive-by shootings that damaged several apartment buildings and vehicles on Jaguar Drive and led to lockdowns at Capital High and nearby schools.

Santa Fe police Officer Richard Hilderbrant arrested Romero and decided to take her “to the jail rather than the hospital,” according to the lawsuit, which names Hilderbrant as a defendant.

Romero collapsed in her cell and an ambulance was called to take her to Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center for treatment of an opioid overdose at 12:45 p.m., according to previous news reports. It would be the first of two overdoses she experienced in custody.

Doctors at Presbyterian discovered a bag of pills, which investigators suspected to be fentanyl, in a body cavity, reports state.

Romero was released from the hospital at 5:45 p.m. and taken back to the jail by Santa Fe Officer Ceasar Ornales, who was given discharge paperwork directing officials to monitor her and return her to the hospital if she had any further difficulties, according to the lawsuit. It also names Ornales, jail Warden Derek Williams and county jail physician Dr. Melquiades Olivares as defendants.

Ornales “had the discharge papers or was aware of them and failed to deliver them to the detention officers ... or otherwise advise the officers of the instructions,” according to the complaint.

Romero was placed in a cell and “was discovered several hours later comatose on the floor of the cell, after having been ignored by detention center guards for several hours,” the suit states.

Although she was found around midnight Oct. 1, the lawsuit says, she was not taken back to the hospital for another four or five hours.

She died in the hospital 10 days later. The state Office of the Medical Investigator determined the cause of her death was the toxic effects of multiple drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, amphetamine and benzodiazepines.

Police Chief Paul Joye said at the time doctors discovered a different bag containing “clear crystals” in a body cavity the second time Romero was taken to the hospital.

“Joye said the bag was separate from

the one found by doctors a day earlier,” according to a previous news report. “It was unclear, however, when or where Romero obtained the second bag of substances and when she hid it in a body cavity.”

Joye said at the time police were conducting an internal investigation to determine if any officers violated policy during Romero’s arrest and booking process. Officers perform pat-downs, not cavity searches, during arrests, he added.

Officials with the city police department and Santa Fe County declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.

The suit accuses county jail officials of cruel and unusual punishment and other civil rights violations and seeks an unspecified amount of damages on behalf of Romero’s son.

Romero’s sister Deavonne Romero was charged with more than a dozen felonies in connection with the shootings, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and shooting at or from a motor vehicle, according to online court records.

The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office dismissed all the charges against Deavonne Romero in January 2022, court records show. A spokesman for the office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment late Monday.

Co-defendant Elijah Gallegos, then 16, pleaded guilty to one count of shooting at or from a motor vehicle without bodily harm and one count of conspiracy to commit shooting at a motor vehicle as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that resolved three cases against him.

The deal called for him to be committed to the Youth Diagnostic Development Center for two years.