MTS, contractor to pay $5.5M to family of San Diego man who died in custody in 2019

The mother of a 24-year-old mentally ill man who died after San Diego trolley security officers held him down — with a knee on his neck for roughly six minutes — agreed to settle with the agency and its security contractor for $5.5 million, officials announced Monday.

The death of Angel Zapata Hernandez also prompted the Metropolitan Transit System to make sweeping changes to security policies, including banning carotid restraints, chokeholds and using a knee to put pressure on a person’s head, throat or neck.

San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who is also chair of the MTS board, said Hernandez’s 2019 death was a “seminal moment for this agency,” and that it prompted “a deep look at our polices and practices.”

“All of us agree that this is a terrible tragedy that should not have occurred,” Fletcher said during a news conference to announce the settlement and changes.

He also apologized to the family of Hernandez, who attended the news conference, and said that the MTS is holding itself accountable.

“Too many times, public agencies defend their actions, defend their polices,” he said. “We are not going to do that. We are going in a different direction.”

The announcement of the settlement — and the revelation that Hernandez died after he had been lying prone with a knee on his neck — came as the nation watched closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin. The former Minneapolis police officer is charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, who died after Chauvin kept him pinned, with a knee on his neck, for nearly nine and a half minutes.

Floyd’s death, caught on video by bystanders, sparked protests across the country — including in San Diego County — and nationwide demands for police reforms.

The fatal encounter in San Diego began around 6 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2019 — rush hour on a Tuesday — when Hernandez was spotted wandering back and forth along the railroad tracks just north of the Santa Fe Depot.

An MTS code compliance inspector spoke to him, but when an Allied Universal security officer arrived, Hernandez ran off. The officers followed for about 100 yards before catching him.

Video of the incident, released by MTS, shows the officers struggling with Hernandez. The struggle takes them to the ground, and the officers eventually get him on his stomach, hands behind his back while handcuffed.

The security officer puts his knee on Hernandez’s back. The MTS officer rests his right knee on Hernandez’s neck for a little more than six minutes, according to the video. Hernandez initially appears to resist and tries to shuffle around. At one point he yells. As the minutes pass, he becomes silent and motionless.

When San Diego police officers arrive, one of them asks whether Hernandez has calmed down.

“Angel, are you still alive, dude?” the MTS officer asks. “Angel, Angel, hey.”

“Wait, does he have a pulse?” a San Diego police officer asks as he checks for a pulse on the side of Hernandez’s neck.

“I don’t know,” the MTS officer responds.

The officers then roll Hernandez onto his back and call for medics. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

MTS Chief Executive Officer Sharon Cooney said Monday that she believes that while officers were initially “trying to help Angel, they made serious mistakes that contributed to his death.”

“We will be making reforms so this doesn’t happen again.” Cooney said.

Hernandez’s mother, Claudia Hernandez, filed a claim last May. Two months later, Fletcher contacted her attorney, Eugene Iredale, seeking to resolve the case.

Under the settlement, MTS will pay $2.5 million, and its insurance carrier will pick up $625,000. Contractor Allied Universal and its insurance company will pay the balance of $2.375 million. Allied did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

MTS said its officer resigned for a reason unrelated to the incident. The security contractor’s employee also resigned.

San Diego police, which investigated the death, presented the case to the District Attorney’s Office in June. In November, prosecutors decided not to bring charges against the security officers.

“Based on the totality of the circumstances, evidence, and findings by the San Diego County Medical Examiner, our office has determined that criminal liability, as opposed to the different legal requirements of civil liability, could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the District Attorney’s Office said Monday in a statement to the Union-Tribune.

The District Attorney’s Office also said it is “notable that MTS has instituted significant policy changes because of what occurred.”

MTS began to consider revamping its security policies in 2017, but many of the significant changes came last year after Floyd’s death and the calls for police reform across the nation.

MTS worked with local police reform and social justice advocates to shape the changes, and also looked to revisions outlined in the national “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, which pushes for policing reforms.

Several local social justice and policing reform advocates applauded the moves.

Andrea Guerrero is executive director of Alliance San Diego, a social justice organization that worked on the policy changes. She said the death of Hernandez was similar to other stories of “unnecessary” deaths.

“But this case is also different,” Guerrero said. “In this instance, MTS has done what is so rare: It has acknowledged its wrongdoing, it has apologized to the family and is committing to policy reforms so that this does not happen again.”

The transit agency has also hired a director of passenger safety and security, and will be reducing emphasis on fare enforcement, offering community service as an option for those who can’t pay the citation fine. Earlier this year, MTS introduced new uniforms to increase the officers’ visibility to riders and increase public trust.

Fletcher said the agency is committed to more changes, including a ban on placing people in a prone position, establishing a civilian advisory committee and transparency in the agency’s disciplinary process.

After the settlement announcement, Hernandez’s family described him as a gentle giant who loved his family, the outdoors and his dogs. Hernandez was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017 and grappled with drug addiction, but he was on medication to treat his mental illness and attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings. His toxicology report showed marijuana but no illegal drugs in his system when he died.

On the day of the incident, Hernandez told his mother he was going to a store near their Linda Vista home about 4 p.m. By 5 p.m., she started to worry and began searching for him. About 10:30 p.m. she called police to report him missing. Three hours later, police detectives knocked on her door with the news.

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