(CN) — San Diego County failed to persuade a federal judge that there were no grounds for a jury to decide whether the county is liable for the death of a 22-year-old man who died in jail six days after he was arrested because deputies and nurses failed to adequately respond to his mental and physical distress.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw on Thursday denied the county’s motion for summary judgment as to the so-called Monell claims brought by the parents of Hayden Schuck, according to whom the county’s policies and practices are to blame for its employees’ negligence and violations of the constitutional due process rights of their son.
“Plaintiffs raise triable issues of fact as to whether the county has a policy of omission—specifically, its failure to implement measures mitigating in-custody deaths,” the judge said. “Plaintiffs reference statistics showing that in-custody deaths in County jails have been shockingly high for years.”…