Suit Seeks $25 Million for Jail Death
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A man arrested on drug charges died of a heart attack after Orange County Jail officials failed to notice his condition and delayed providing medical help, a lawsuit seeking $25 million in damages alleges.
Jose Angel Torres died Aug. 9, 1986, eight days after he was arrested on drug-related charges and held in County Jail, according to the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court by his family.
The lawsuit claims that jail officials were negligent, deprived Torres of his civil rights and “failed to provide qualified medical supervision” despite the fact they knew of “the acute nature of (Torres’) medical condition.”
Torres was so weak that jail officials brought him to a court appearance in a wheelchair, according to Randall L. Hite, the Santa Ana attorney who filed the lawsuit.
A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department declined to comment.
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