Contra Costa sheriff's deputies left Jaime Rodriguez unsupervised in the van and failed to intervene when he tried to harm himself, leading to his death. The family of the deceased man is suing the county for negligence, seeking unspecified damages.
DANVILLE — Jaime Rodriguez drove up to a local apartment complex allegedly expecting to meet a 13-year-old boy. Instead, he was greeted by police investigators and delved into a full-blown panic, screaming that his life was over before officers placed him into a restraint device and stuck him in the back of a van.
But Rodriguez, 50, would never make it to the jail. Inside the sheriff’s transport van, he somehow twisted the belt restraints into a rudimentary noose and was found hanging from a vehicle security camera, and was pronounced dead of suicide the following day. Now, Rodriguez’s wife has filed a lawsuit against Contra Costa for failing to prevent his February 2024 death, court records show.
The suit, filed in federal court late last month by Maria Del Rocio Ramos Hernandez, seeks unspecified damages for the “loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support, as well as economic losses. ” It names both Danville and Contra Costa as defendants, alleging that sheriff’s deputies should have recognized that Rodriguez was spiraling into suicidal fury but left him unsupervised in the van. , according to a report released on the agency’s website.
The suit is still in its early stages, and was moved from state to federal court on April 30. Before that, attorneys for Contra Costa had sought to dismiss it on technical grounds, arguing that Rodriguez didn’t meet the legal definition of a prisoner, court records show. The suit, the DA’s report and a February 2024 news release by the Contra Costa Sheriff offer the only publicly available details of how Rodriguez ended up dead.
On Feb. 26, 2024, Rodriguez allegedly reached out to an undercover cop posing as a 13-year-old boy online in a sting operation aimed at arresting would-be child predators. Such operations occur several times a year in Contra Costa County. Detectives are trained to pose as children, reveal themselves as minors early on in the conversation, and to act as willing participants, but not to initiate sexual talk.
Police haven’t ever revealed what Rodriguez and the officer allegedly discussed, but they reportedly set a meeting meeting for the following morning, in Danville, according to the public records. The investigation involved numerous law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to Danville police, the DA’s office, and the Sheriff’s office, which contracts its police services to Danville. They’re collectively known as the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
A sheriff’s office spokesman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, but the agency generally doesn’t comment on pending litigation. Authorities say Rodriguez showed up to a Danville apartment complex three minutes after 10 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2024, and was promptly arrested on suspicion of meeting a minor for lewd purposes, a felony. Almost immediately, Rodriguez began to panic, scream, and attempt to hurt himself.
He yelled “just kill me” and slammed his head into the hood of a police car, then deliberately fell to the ground. Police used a device to strap his legs together and stuck him in the back of a van, the reports say. The sheriff’s deputy tasked with taking Rodriguez to the hospital didn’t witness the outburst and wasn’t told of it, according to the DA’s report.
When the deputy arrived at Martinez Detention Facility, drove into the sallyport, and opened the back door to book Rodriguez, he found Rodriguez hanging from a security camera inside the van. He’d used the restraint device as a noose at some point during the roughly 30-minute trip, the report says.
Monterey prison inmate convicted for killing wheelchair-bound inmateMan released from California ICE custody – a day before his wife dies of cancer The suit alleges that police failed to respond to Rodriguez’s “severe mental health crisis” that “begged for medical attention” and either lacked training or “turned a blind eye” to his fate.
“If defendants had assigned anyone to accompany the distressed Jaime Rodriguez in the van during his ride to MDF, then he would likely still be alive today,” the suit says. Rodriguez’s death was one of only two police-involved fatalities in Contra Costa that year, an abnormally low number. No one died at the jail for more than a full year before that, when a man succumbed to COVID-19 and a fatty liver condition in early 2023, according to court records.
There were no in-custody suicides from the date of Rodriguez’s death until last week, when a police shooting suspect died from suicide after being discovered near death inside his cell and transported to a hospital, according to public records. Additional resource: If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help.
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Jaime Rodriguez Suicide Hanging Contra Costa County Danville Police Transport Van Undercover Cop Computer Aided Sting Operations Alleged Contact With A Minor Lack Of Response To Crisis
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