LAKEPORT, Calif. – Authorities said that a man who died in jail in May committed suicide, while at the same time the man's family is preparing to file suit, alleging that he was not properly cared for while in custody.
Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said a forensic pathologist concluded that 37-year-old James Ellis Smith of Santa Rosa died from asphyxia due to hanging.
Smith's body was found in his cell on the morning of May 10 during a routine cell check, as Lake County News has reported.
Jail staff and Lakeport Fire personnel worked for half an hour to revive him before he was declared dead, the sheriff's office reported.
At the time of his death, Smith had been in jail for approximately four months for an attempted burglary at a Lakeport business that led to a high speed chase.
At the end of the chase Smith was shot by a sheriff's deputy after Smith rammed his pickup into a Lakeport Police car.
Lakeport Police Officer Joe Eastham responded to an alarm call at Hilltop Honda early on the morning of Jan. 3, finding Smith attempting to break into the building.
Smith fled in a pickup and Eastham gave chase. Deputy Jay Vanoven joined the pursuit, which led out of the city at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, officials reported.
It was on Riggs Road in the north Lakeport area that Smith ran off the pavement, then put the pickup into reverse and rammed into Eastham's patrol vehicle.
Eastham got out of the vehicle and when Smith prepared to back up the pickup again, Vanoven shot at Smith six times, hitting him in the elbow and body, and grazing him in the head, according to District Attorney Don Anderson's investigation of the shooting.
In late May, Anderson issued a finding that Vanoven was justified in the shooting, firing his weapon “as a result of what he believed to be a credible threat to the life and safety” of Eastham.
Two days before Smith died, the District Attorney's Office made a plea offer to Smith requiring him to plead to burglary and felony evasion, with a maximum prison sentence expected to be three years, eight months, Anderson said.
Anderson said his office didn't charge Smith with assaulting Eastham with the pickup because it was going to be extremely hard to prove.
Since his death, Smith's family has filed tort claims against the county and the city of Lakeport.
In June attorney Michael Green of the Santa Rosa law firm Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery filed claims on behalf of Smith's minor daughter, parents and estate against both the city and county, seeking unlimited damages and alleging use of excessive force, civil rights violations and failure to provide Smith necessary medical treatment – both mental and physical.
The claims assert that the county of Lake knew Smith was suicidal and mentally disturbed, that he was mentally and physically disabled within the definitions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Unruh Civil Rights Act, and that he required mental health and psychiatric care.
However, “instead of providing said necessary care, the County of Lake was deliberately indifferent to James Ellis Smith's serious medical, physical, and mental health needs,” the claims state.
His family also believes the county failed to provide Smith with proper monitoring and did not respond to repeated notifications from Smith – as well as others – that he needed acute mental health treatment and was suicidal.
They also accuse jail staff of “actively” taunting and tormenting Smith, getting others to torment and provoke him, and encouraging him to commit suicide.
County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News that the county's third-party authorized agent that handles such claims, the George Hills Co., denied the Smith family's claims on July 14.
That same week, the Lakeport City Council denied the claims as part of the consent agenda for its regular July 15 meeting.
Green told Lake County News in an email that, with the claims now denied, a lawsuit is planned.
“We are investigating the claims and will be bringing suit,” he said.
However, in response to questions from Lake County News about the case, Green said he couldn't discuss further details immediately.
“Unfortunately I cannot at this juncture provide much beyond that regarding the exact nature of the claims and which parties will ultimately be defendants because our investigation is still under way. I will be in a better position to talk more openly once the action has been brought,” Green said.
Case involving previous jail suicide settled
Smith's case has similarities to another jail suicide that was the focus of a lawsuit settled earlier this year.
In January, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the final part of a settlement regarding the May 17, 2010, suicide death of 38-year-old Jimmy Ray Hatfield of Clearlake.
Hatfield had been arrested two days before his death by Clearlake Police officers and charged with felonies including threatening a peace officer, resisting arrest, battery on a peace officer, and two other related misdemeanor charges, according to jail records.
He was found during the early morning inmate count in the maximum security unit, about 40 minutes after jail staff reported last seeing him in his cell, appearing to act normally.
Like Smith, Hatfield was found hanging in his cell. He was declared deceased in the Sutter Lakeside Hospital emergency room.
Hatfield's family subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against the county in the California Northern District court on May 16, 2011, a year after his death, court records showed.
Grant told Lake County News that the county's settlement with Hatfield's family totaled $645,000 and was paid out by two insurance carriers.
Late last year, CSAC-EIA paid $630,000 to cover county employees named as defendants and the county as those defendants' employers, she said.
In January, the board approved the final $15,000 portion, paid by insurance carrier Program Beta, which Grant said provides coverage for health and mental health workers and the county as the employer of health and mental health workers. That portion of the settlement covered a Lake County Behavioral Health employee.
In March, the board came out of a closed session and unanimously approved the consent to settle agreement in the case, according to county records.
Grant said the Hatfield case is now settled in full.
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