A federal court case has been filed on behalf of family members of Steven Kellogg Neuroth, a 55-year-old Ukiah man described as having been previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder and depression, who died last June in the Mendocino County Jail.
The family’s attorney, Michael Haddad, of Oakland based Haddad and Sherwin, last filed a claim against the county in late December 2014 alleging wrongful death by asphyxiation due to “improper and excessive restraint,” which was rejected by the Board of Supervisors at a January 2015 meeting.
Steven Neuroth died one day after his arrest, after being transferred to Ukiah Valley Medical Center at 12:46 a.m. June 11, 2014, suffering from cardiac arrest allegedly following “extreme and deadly force,” according to the lawsuit.
A previous news release from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office stated Neuroth was found unresponsive in his cell the day he died by jail staff who attempted life-saving measures.
The supervisors have a closed session item scheduled for Tuesday regarding the federal lawsuit, which is similar to what was filed with the county earlier this year.
Steven Neuroth’s brother, James Neuroth, and sister, Joan Nygren, are alleging wrongful death against Mendocino County, Sheriff Tom Allman, California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., company medical director Dr. Taylor Fithian, who reportedly oversees the jails, and nurse Jennifer Caudillo and jail deputies.
Haddad said Steven Neuroth had no physical injuries prior to his jail booking, but said the man’s autopsy showed widespread blunt force injuries, a fractured rib, organ injuries and other serious physical injuries. Haddad also alleges that the county and Sheriff’s Office have refused to share jail records or jail medical records pertaining to the case.
“The lawsuit will require them to share what happened,” Haddad said. “We are seeing this more and more from public officials, not sharing information with the public.”
Allman was unreachable for comment Friday, but county officials typically don’t speak on pending lawsuits.
Haddad said CFMG is an outsourced medical provider to the jail by the county and is a for-profit company. According to a January 2015 Sacramento Bee article, CFMG provides correctional health care to at least 27 counties around the state. The Bee details information on several lawsuits against the medical provider, alleging improper jail medical and mental health care. The article stated that company attorneys disputed the allegations.
“The county is outsourcing medical care to inmates, and in the long run it doesn’t save any money,” Haddad said. “It results in deaths and lawsuits.”
The lawsuit alleges the county, Allman, CFMG and Fithian have failed in staffing a qualified medical and/or mental health professional at the jail to evaluate the mental health for incoming inmates. The lawsuit also suggests the jail and its medical provider continue to allow uncredentialed staff, including licensed vocational nurses, to “perform intake medical assessments and or mental health assessments on patients without any appropriate clinical supervision by a registered nurse, physician or otherwise proper.”
It is also alleged that Allman “failed to reasonably train deputy sheriffs in the proper and reasonable use of force, failure to implement and enforce generally accepted, lawful policies and procedures at the jail, and allowing and or ratifying excessive and unreasonable force and restraint, and deliberate indifference to the serious medical and psychiatric needs of inmates,” the lawsuit states.
Caudillo, a nurse working at the jail, is alleged to have taken a medical assessment of Steven Neuroth when he was booked June 10, 2014, and due to her qualifications, failed to follow appropriate protocols in assessing his medical and mental status.
Caudillo and jail staff are alleged to have had knowledge that Steven Neuroth was in distress and in need of emergency medical or psychiatric care upon his arrival at the jail, according to the lawsuit filed.
On June 10, 2014, around 10 p.m., the Willits Police Department reportedly first made contact with Steven Neuroth.
By the WPD’s accounts, Neuroth was “extremely paranoid,” “believed someone was out to kill him,” and “was going through a psychosis state.”
The lawsuit notes that once Neuroth was in the patrol car, he told WPD officers there were “snakes” on the floor and “started to scream.”
Steven Neuroth was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, and was taken to the county jail.
The lawsuit states Steven Neuroth was allegedly uncooperative at the jail which led jail staff to use force, taking him to the ground, “using control holds and put restraints on his legs.”
Deputies then allegedly took Neuroth to a safety cell, where the lawsuit claims they “continued to use unjustified force against him, and with information and belief, committed multiple strikes, blows and control holds.”
Steven Neuroth didn’t pose a significant level of threat against jail staff, the lawsuit claims.
Haddad, on behalf of the Neuroth family, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, an order prohibiting named defendants and sheriff’s deputies from using excessive force and interfering with the rights of inmates, the enforcement of appropriate policies for handling mentally ill or emotionally disturbed people, prohibiting named defendants and sheriff’s deputies from using the “code of silence,” or the withholding of information, the training of all sheriff’s deputies in procedures for the use of deadly force and an order to train all medical and mental health professionals named in the complaint.
The lawsuit is also requesting a jury trial.
“We can tell they know he was in some sort of medical or psychiatric crisis and should have been in the hospital instead of jail,” Haddad said. “It was a really bad decision, but unfortunately, it’s becoming more of a common scenario in jails.”
