4 days ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Family sues Bay Area county for alleged negligence in jail overdose death
The family of a man who died from an accidental overdose in Santa Clara County jail last year is suing the county for wrongful death, according to a recent lawsuit, marking the latest in a string of contested overdose deaths in Bay Area jails.
James and Bonnie Gay filed a civil rights lawsuit in the Northern District of California on Wednesday against Santa Clara County, alleging that their 33-year-old son Brandon Gay died as a result of negligence by staff at the Elmwood Correctional Facility, federal court records show.
Gay was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on November 15, 2024, on drug-related charges, county officials said. He tested positive for amphetamines, benzodiazepines and fentanyl during a medical screening with county personnel, according to the complaint.
Gay told medical staff that he used fentanyl and Xanax the day before his arrest, and that he sometimes experienced seizures when 'coming down from Xanax,' the complaint said. Staff cleared him for transport to a correctional facility in Milpitas.
A staff doctor ordered wellbeing checks and opiate withdrawal assessments for Gay, but according to allegations made in the lawsuit, county medical staff 'failed to follow this order' for more than a day.
Medical staff checked on Gay around 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. November 17, 2024, noting that he was able to move about his cell but 'wanted to go back to sleep,' according to the complaint.
At 8:48 p.m. the same day, staff found Gay unconscious on the shower-room floor, the complaint alleges. They transported him in a wheelchair to a medical area at the facility, where he reportedly had a faint pulse, shallow breathing and cool skin.
Medical personnel administered three doses of Narcan, according to the complaint. County officials said paramedics from the Milpitas Fire Department arrived by 9:08 p.m. and transported Gay to San Jose Regional Medical Center.
Gay died at the hospital several days later.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office said Gay died from complications of mixed drug toxicity related to methamphetamine, buprenorphine and fentanyl.
Gay was among 10 people who died in the custody of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office in 2024, including five whose deaths were ruled natural, according to the agency.
'It's troubling when someone dies in custody like this,' said James Cook, an attorney representing the Gay family. 'If the jails are doing their monitoring correctly, you'll be able to take people to the hospital if there's some type of sickness that might lead to death.'
