The daughters of a man who died in a San Diego County jail last year have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county, which alleges their father was suffering from medical issues and arrested under the mistaken belief that he was under the influence of drugs.
The daughters of Gilbert Gil, 67, allege their father suffered from early on-set dementia and diabetes, which caused him to display erratic behavior in the days leading up to his death. Rather than provide him with necessary medical treatment, Gil was left alone in a holding cell for 14 hours without anyone checking on him, they allege.
Gil was initially arrested on suspicion of being under the influence on Feb. 12, 2022 after crashing his truck into a ditch in Escondido. He was released from jail to one of his daughters, but later that night, he began exhibiting “severe confusion and distress.”
Gil’s nephew called 911 for help and when officers arrived, they “wrongfully assumed his behavior was associated with methamphetamine use” and arrested him, the complaint filed Wednesday in San Diego federal court states.
Gil was taken to a hospital, where the lawsuit states he was unable to consent to medical treatment due to the medical distress he was undergoing. A doctor told law enforcement Gil appeared medically safe to detain, but additional tests were needed. The doctor provided instructions indicating Gil should be brought back to the hospital if he experienced chest pain or palpitations, according to the lawsuit.
Gil later fell at the jail and was placed in a holding cell to “sober up,” the lawsuit states. He was left in the cell for the next 14 hours until he was found dead on the evening of Feb. 14, according to the complaint, which alleges no directives were put in place to monitor Gil in case he suffered from chest pain or palpitations, as previously ordered by the doctor at the hospital.
Gil’s daughters, Jennifer Schmidt and Lyndzy Biondo, allege in their suit that an independent autopsy indicated Gil died from cardiac complications and there were no drugs in his system at the time of death.
“Throughout his 14 hours of detainment, Mr. Gil experienced worsening signs of medical distress, which were intentionally ignored by VDF staff,” the complaint states. “Had defendants not unreasonably assumed Mr. Gil was `heavily under the influence,’ and instead treated him like a human being in need of medical assistance, he would still be alive today.”
–City News Service
