The Estate of Paul Silva v. City of San Diego

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedDecember 16, 2022
Docket3:18-cv-02282
StatusUnknown

This text of The Estate of Paul Silva v. City of San Diego (The Estate of Paul Silva v. City of San Diego) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Estate of Paul Silva v. City of San Diego, (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 THE ESTATE OF PAUL SILVA, by and ) Case No. 18cv02282 L (MSB) through it's successors-in-interest ) 11 LESLIE ALLEN and The Estate of ) ORDER GRANTING IN PART MANUEL SILVA et al, ) AND DENYING IN PART 12 ) DEFENDANT CITY OF SAN Plaintiffs, ) DIEGO’S MOTION FOR 13 ) SUMMARY JUDGEMENT OR v. ) SUMMARY ADJUDICATION 14 ) [ECF NO. 199] CITY OF SAN DIEGO, et al, ) 15 ) Defendants. ) 16 ) ) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Pending before the Court is Officer Andrew Murrow, Officer Thomas Derisio, 2 Sgt. Louis Maggi, and City of San Diego (“City Defendants”) motion for summary 3 judgment. Plaintiffs opposed the motion and Defendants replied. The Court decides 4 the matter on the papers submitted and without oral argument. See Civ. L. R. 5 7.1(d.1). For the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion is granted in part and 6 denied in part. 7 I. BACKGROUND 8 A. Factual Allegations 9 This action arises out of the contact, arrest, booking, and subsequent death of 10 Plaintiffs’ son, Paul Silva (“Paul” or “Decedent”). Silva suffered from 11 schizophrenia. (First Am. Compl. “FAC” ¶¶ 32, 51 [ECF. No. 79]). Although he was 12 39 years old, he lived with his father, Manuel Silva, and visited his mother, Leslie 13 Allen, each morning. (Id. ¶ 33). 14 On February 19, 2018, while visiting Allen, Silva acted out and refused to go 15 home. (Id. ¶ 34). Allen called the San Diego Police Department’s Psychiatric 16 Emergency Response Team (“PERT”) and requested assistance for a mental health 17 emergency, also known as a California Welfare and Institution’s Code § 5150 18 psychiatric hold (“5150 hold”). (Id. ¶¶ 35, 39). Allen had called PERT to assist Paul 19 in the past. On each prior occasion, “a PERT officer would speak to Paul calmly, 20 and Paul would comply with all of their requests.” (Id. ¶ 38). However, due to the 21 President’s Day holiday on February 19, 2018, PERT was unavailable. (Id. ¶ 35). 22 On February 20, 2018, Allen again called the San Diego Police Department 23 (“SDPD”) to request PERT assistance for Silva. (Id.) In the dispatch log, the call was 24 classified as a “5150 Mental Case” and the type of call was “CW-CHECK THE 25 WELFARE.” (Id. at 39). During this call, Allen told dispatch that Silva was 26 cooperative with police because he was scared of officers. (Id. at ¶ 40). 27 1 After three hours, Allen called SDPD again, telling them that Silva needed to 2 go to the hospital because he was having a schizophrenic breakdown and was 3 “running around between cars in the middle of the street.” (Id. at ¶ 42). Silva’s 4 behavior became increasingly concerning, so a half an hour later, Allen contacted 5 SDPD again, reporting that Silva was getting worse and that he needed to go to the 6 hospital. (Id. at ¶ 43). 7 San Diego police officers Derisio, Murrow, and Maggi responded to Allen’s 8 5150 call without PERT personnel. (Id. ¶ 45). Allen informed Derisio that Paul (1) 9 did not use illicit drugs, (2) required hospitalization to treat his schizophrenia, and 10 (3) was not taking his psychiatric medication. (Id. ¶ 44). Despite Allen’s statements 11 that Silva was having a schizophrenic episode because he was off his medication, and 12 that he was not on drugs, the officers decided that Silva must have used narcotics. 13 (Id. at ¶ 45). Officer Murrow administered a field sobriety test, and Murrow 14 concluded that Silva failed the test. (Id. ¶ 45). After arresting Silva, Murrow 15 transported him first to SDPD headquarters, then to the Central Jail, a County-owned 16 facility, to be booked. (FAC ¶ 49). Murrow did not inform County personnel of Paul’s 17 psychiatric condition. (Id. ¶ 55). 18 Registered nurse Anthony Adraneda conducted Paul’s intake interview at the 19 Central Jail at approximately 11:21 AM on February 20, 2018. Paul informed 20 Adraneda that he suffered from diabetes and schizophrenia and had been previously 21 hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. (Id. at 51). Adraneda reviewed Paul’s medical 22 records in the Central Jail’s information management system and saw that his records 23 showed a history of schizophrenia and self-reported psychiatric hospitalizations. (Id. 24 at 52). Adraneda was aware that Paul had been prescribed psychiatric medication and 25 had not been taking it. (Id.) Although Paul was a “book and release” inmate, 26 Adraneda informed him he would refer him to a psychiatric doctor. (Id. at 52). 27 1 “Book and release” inmates are arrested and booked for being under the 2 influence of a controlled substance and are placed in “sobering cells” to be monitored 3 for a maximum of 8 hours. (See id. ¶¶ 58, 69). Paul remained in County custody for 4 the next 36 hours. During his 36 hours in the Central Jail, Sheriff’s deputies saw Paul 5 running around his cell, throwing himself to the ground, yelling incoherently, staring 6 out the window with his mouth wide open, holding his arms out pointing toward the 7 window and walls, and crawling and rolling on the floor. (Id. ¶ 210). Paul was not 8 placed in a sobering cell, as required for book-and-release inmates, but was instead 9 moved from temporary holding cell to temporary holding cell with “no shower, no 10 toilet paper, no soap, no toothbrush, no clean clothes, and no bed [or blankets].” (Id. 11 ¶ 61). He was not given a medical referral or treatment for diabetes or his 12 schizophrenia. (Id. at ¶ 67). “When Paul arrived at the hospital, he was hypoglycemic 13 with his blood sugar level at 30.”). 14 At 7:46 p.m., approximately 9 hours after Paul had been booked, Paul was 15 exhibiting symptoms of decompensation but was not offered any medical assistance. 16 (Id. ¶¶ 76). At 1:35 AM on February 21, 2018, a “cell check” was conducted by a 17 deputy who looked in but Paul was still not offered any medical assistance. (Id. ¶ 77). 18 At 2:28 AM, Lieutenant Laura Coyne reviewed the Central Jail log after Paul had 19 been in temporary holding cells for 16 hours. Coyne did not take action to release 20 him or request medical care. (Id. ¶ 78). At 8:07 AM, Sergeants Ceballos and Navarro 21 went into Paul’s cell when he was placing items under the door and moving them 22 around. Paul had been held for approximately 22 hours without sleep. Ceballos and 23 Navarro did not assist him. (Id. ¶ 79). At 2:16 PM, Ceballos was the supervisor on 24 the floor and knew that Paul had been denied access to adequate resources for over 25 28 hours. He still did not act. (Id. ¶ 81). 26 27 1 Between 7:41 PM and 7:51 PM, 33 hours after Paul was booked, Deputy Julio 2 Rodriguez, Deputy Ryan Seabron, and Deputy Suarez visited him to complete the 3 required book-and-release paperwork. (Id. ¶ 84). Silva complied with Deputy 4 Rodriguez’s instructions, but when Rodriguez reached for his handcuffs, Silva ran to 5 the back of his cell. (Id.) Rodriguez, Seabron, and Suarez did not release him, provide 6 medical care, or move him to a cell more suitable for long-term stays. (Id. ¶ 84). 7 By 10:55 PM, Silva was running from wall to wall in his cell and placing his 8 body against the walls and on the floor. (Id. at ¶ 85). Sergeant Lawson told Silva to 9 come to the door of the cell to be placed in handcuffs, but Silva did not respond. (Id.) 10 At 10:59 PM, Sergeant Michael Lawson instructed Seabron to use pepper spray to 11 force Paul to comply. (Id. ¶ 86). Because the pepper spray did not affect him, Silva 12 continued to pace in his cell. (Id.) Lawson and Sergeant John Douthitt concluded 13 Paul was suffering from excited delirium and proposed a tactical team extraction. 14 Coyne, the watch commander on duty, agreed. (Id ¶ 87). None of them reviewed 15 Paul’s medical history before deciding to use a tactical team to extract Paul from his 16 cell. (Id.) 17 Nurse practitioner Keri Cavallo evaluated Paul immediately before the 18 extraction. (Id. at ¶ 89).

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The Estate of Paul Silva v. City of San Diego, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-estate-of-paul-silva-v-city-of-san-diego-casd-2022.