Lawsuits prompt questions about civilian oversight of San Diego Sheriff’s Department

When the volunteer board that investigates complaints against the San Diego Sheriff’s Department looked into what killed Paul Silva, the panel found that no jail policies were violated and closed the case.

A key piece of evidence in the case was video footage showing a tactical team’s efforts to remove Silva, who suffered from schizophrenia, from a holding cell. During the violent struggle, Silva stopped breathing, resulting in brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. Members of the review board did not watch the video, the board’s former executive officer told The San Diego Union Tribune, and relied on an investigator’s brief summary of the incident.

Recently the San Diego County Board of Supervisors agreed to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Silva’s family and pay $3.5 million — the largest payout yet for the death of any inmate in the custody of Sheriff Bill Gore.

The settlement came after a federal judge agreed with plaintiff’s attorneys that the review board’s inconsistent record of overseeing the Sheriff’s Department contributed to “policies, customs, and practices” that led to the 39-year-old man’s death.

Undated photo of Paul Silva, who died in 2018 after a beating by deputies left him with a collapsed lung. The family is now suing the county.

(Family photo)

“Although (San Diego County) has established a board to investigate the widely known problem of in-custody deaths, it has also failed to enable the board to carry out its stated responsibilities,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge M. James Lorenz in his ruling.

The judge’s statement takes on added import in light of at least a dozen pending lawsuits brought by families of inmates who died or suffered serious injuries in San Diego County custody.

Many of those ongoing lawsuits are related to cases the review board dismissed or found no misconduct by jail staff. The lawsuits are raising questions about the effectiveness of the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, known as CLERB.

An 11-member committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors, the review board oversees complaints related to the Sheriff’s and Probation departments.

The board meets monthly to review allegations of misconduct, investigative findings and to recommend policy changes and disciplinary measures. Investigators hold subpoena power but generally they rely on sheriff’s and probation officials for information about cases under review.

Paul Parker, who returned as the board’s executive officer last year after leaving in 2018, disputed some of the assertions in the Silva family’s lawsuit about the review board but agreed with the judge that the panel’s mission has been stymied by years of underfunding.

The citizens’ group recently got a 50 percent budget boost from the Board of Supervisors that has allowed it to increase its staff.

“Hopefully we’ll be doing more thorough death investigations,” Parker said.

The civilian oversight panel last year found “no evidence to support an allegation of procedural violation, misconduct, or negligence on the part of Sheriff’s Department sworn personnel” according to its report on Silva’s death.

Public records also show the volunteer panel found no issues in the deaths of Mark Armendo, Lyle Woodward, Michael Wilson and Jeremy Thomas — all of whom died in sheriff’s custody in recent years and whose families are now suing San Diego County.

Despite having a history of mental illness, Woodward was not placed on the jail’s psychiatric floor after he was arrested in 2016. Instead, he was housed in a three-man cell with Clinton Thinn, who had previously attacked other inmates and had told deputies he would do so again, court records show.

Thinn was later convicted in Woodward’s murder.

According to the family’s lawsuit, Deputy Curtis Stratton said in a recorded interview with sheriff’s investigators that he had tried to get Woodward moved to the psychiatric floor but doing so “is a feat of strength, in and of itself.”

“I’ve been trying to submit (Woodward) to the psych ward several times but he keeps getting cleared off,” Stratton said. “It could just be the reason why those guys moved into that cell is because everyone else kind of corralled them, the two crazy guys together.”

Nonetheless, when the review board investigated the in-custody death, they found that “Woodward and his cellmates were properly classified upon their entry into the SDSD jail system.”

Court records show the Woodward family reached a tentative settlement with San Diego County last month. The plaintiff’s attorney said they accepted $400,000. The county has not yet publicly disclosed the amount of the payout.

Wilson had a previously diagnosed heart condition that required special medication at the time he was arrested two-plus years ago, his family’s lawsuit said, but sheriff’s deputies failed to provide him proper medical treatment and he collapsed and died in early 2019. The review board found no violations by jail staff.

Armendo’s family said he was exposed to COVID-19 while in the Vista jail last year and he didn’t receive proper treatment and later died at UCSD Medical Center. The Sheriff’s Department said it formally released Armendo from custody before he died and does not consider his death an in-custody death.

Below: Jeremy Thomas lost his hand to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2011. He died in a San Diego County jail. U-T

(Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Relatives of Thomas, a former Marine, similarly allege that he failed to receive proper medical treatment in county jail. He was found unresponsive in his cell two days after being booked into Men’s Central Jail. An autopsy found Thomas died from a heart attack caused in part by methamphetamine.

The civilian oversight board has no legal jurisdiction over the jail’s medical staff, but Parker said he hopes to change that in coming months by convincing the Board of Supervisors to expand his authority.

“Our hands are tied when it comes to painting the whole picture of a case,” he said.

Summary dismissals

After Ronnie Sandoval died from a methamphetamine overdose while in custody in 2014, the review board found no policy or procedural violations.

Though Sandoval was placed in a medical observation cell in the Men’s Central Jail downtown, court records show he was unmonitored for eight hours. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sandoval’s wife, but early this year the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case.

Among other things, the appellate judges found that the Sheriff’s Department’s practice of using medical observation cells for purposes other than medical observation led to confusion among staff and that may have caused Sandoval’s death.

More recently, civilian review board investigators initially found no violations in the 2019 death of Elisa Serna, who was left on the floor of her cell after a nurse and deputy watched her strike her head and collapse, according to a CLERB investigator’s report.

After The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on the case, the review board overruled its investigators and issued a finding that the deputy should have assisted Serna.

Last spring, in the wake of mass protests due to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and another incident in La Mesa, county supervisors said they would examine the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board practices.

They approved a review board budget for 2021-22 at $1.5 million — almost double the spending from three years ago. CLERB has eight staff in its budget, up from four three years ago.

At least three other lawsuits pending against San Diego County are from the families of people whose deaths were never investigated by the review board, because in 2017 the board summarily dismissed almost two dozen cases.

The board’s decision came after county lawyers cited a one-year time limit on any investigation that could result in disciplinary action against deputies — even though CLERB can only recommend discipline; it can’t order it.

The mass case dismissals also helped alleviate the backlog of death investigations.

The families of Kristopher NeSmith, Ruben Nunez and Heron Moriarty all sued San Diego County for negligence. Their lawsuits reveal facts that an independent investigation likely would have uncovered.

For instance, according to court records, guards ignored a noose found in NeSmith’s cell. Later, he was able to suffocate himself.

Sun Apr 12, 2015 _ Handout photo of Kristopher Nesmith, a former marine that killed himself in San Diego County jail.

(Handout)

Nunez died from water intoxication. He had a rare mental disorder that caused him to drink water in excess, court records show, but jail staff housed him in a cell with access to a water fountain. Jail video shows him filling and refilling a cup over and over.

Moriarty had a psychotic breakdown and was able to kill himself in custody, despite dozens of calls made by his wife warning jail staff that he needed to be watched closely.

Parker said he has overhauled the civilian review board’s case management system to make sure no more death cases are dismissed due to time limits.

‘Leading the change’

Nick Mitchell is the former head of Denver’s Office of the Independent Monitor and is currently overseeing court-mandated reforms to Los Angeles jails. He said assertive civilian oversight of police and sheriff’s departments is critical to improving law enforcement practices.

“Oversight should be leading the charge” on taking a big-picture look at cases, Mitchell said. “Every incident is a window into the practices of the agency that may reveal policies and practices that need to be changed.”

Sue Quinn, a former CLERB special investigator and executive officer who also served as president of the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, said civilian review boards not only need adequate funding and training, they also need to properly exercise the authority they have.

“When it’s not done, it makes everybody lose confidence in the review board and lose more confidence that the justice in that city or county is fair,” she said.

Quinn also cautioned review boards to avoid having relationships that are too close to police and sheriff’s officials or their supporters — or to rely on law enforcement for training.

“Required training for board members, it still has not been adequate enough,” she said. “It can’t be training just from the cops.”

The San Diego County citizens’ review board has issued some strong rulings against jail employees.

The board found significant violations by jail staff in the 2019 death of Ivan Ortiz, who suffocated himself while housed in a psychiatric unit.

The oversight board also noted improper conduct in the death of Bernard Victorianne, whose family won a $2.3 million settlement in 2016 after alleging that deputies knew Victorianne had swallowed a bag of methamphetamine and failed to respond to obvious symptoms of medical despair.

The next review board meeting is Tuesday. On the agenda is an excessive-force complaint filed by a woman who said she was physically removed from her cell in the middle of the night by nine deputies without explanation.

“Today I am still bruised. Wrist and ankles. My lip bleeding. I was in so much pain. I now have a black left eye, bruised ribs, back and neck, a knot on my four head (sic), (left side) bruised knees, ankle and wrist and very embarrassed,” she wrote in her complaint.

Review board investigators have found that deputies used a reasonable amount of force on the woman.

“If the complainant sustained injuries during the lawful, justified, and proper use of force, then the injuries sustained are reasonable,” the investigation said.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. online due to COVID-19 restrictions. Anyone interested in viewing or participating can
access the meeting at https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/clerb/ .