San Diego County to pay nearly $15M to family of pregnant woman who died in jail 5 years ago

San Diego County volition wage astir $15 cardinal to settee a suit by the household of a 24-year-old large pistillate who died successful jailhouse aft a sheriff’s lawman and aesculapian idiosyncratic watched her illness successful a compartment 5 years ago

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County volition wage astir $15 cardinal to settee a suit by the household of a 24-year-old large pistillate who died successful jailhouse aft a sheriff's lawman and a aesculapian idiosyncratic watched her illness successful a compartment 5 years ago.

The colony reached Friday nighttime aft lengthy negotiations betwixt the region and relatives of Elisa Serna came conscionable weeks earlier the lawsuit was acceptable to spell to trial. The woody was confirmed by the justice overseeing the national lawsuit, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.

“The dollar magnitude doesn’t matter,” said Elisa's mother, Paloma Serna, who plans to proceed to advocator for different men and women successful sheriff’s custody. “These things bash not alteration the information that Elisa is ne'er coming back.”

San Diego County volition wage $14 million, portion the Coast Correctional Medical Group, which provides aesculapian professionals to dainty radical successful jail, volition wage $1 million, the paper said.

Earlier this year, the jailhouse caregiver who responded to Serna's illness was recovered not blameworthy of involuntary manslaughter successful the November 2019 decease astatine Las Colinas Detention Facility successful the San Diego suburb of Santee.

Serna, who was 5 weeks pregnant, was booked into the jailhouse 5 days earlier her death. She was suffering from intoxicant and cause withdrawals and had told the jailhouse unit that she had utilized heroin hours earlier her arrest, prosecutors said.

When Serna passed out, the caregiver failed to cheque her captious signs and near her connected the level of her compartment for astir an hr earlier returning with deputies to statesman “futile lifesaving measures,” prosecutors said.

The aesculapian examiner determined that she died from complications of chronic “polysubstance abuse.”

In summation to the $15 cardinal payment, the statement calls for the sheriff’s section to behaviour caller grooming for deputies and jailhouse aesculapian staff.

It besides allows the justice to show the sheriff’s department’s compliance with its statement for the adjacent 12 months, the Union-Tribune reported.

Following the settlement, Sheriff Kelly Martinez issued a connection noting she was not successful bureau erstwhile Serna died and touting changes she has made since being sworn successful past year.

“There person been galore changes and an unthinkable displacement successful priorities, approach, and processes successful our jails since 2019,” Martinez wrote. “As Sheriff I americium committed to improving our jailhouse strategy and ensuring the jails are harmless for everyone who is incarcerated and for each our employees.”