Family of woman found in ditch sues San Diego Sheriff’s Office

The three children of the woman found earlier this year in a Lemon Grove ditch have sued the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly ignoring pleas for help.

Irma Perez Espinoza, 43, died in August. The lawsuit accuses the department of lying and negligence in Espinoza’s “wrongful death.” It also alleges that a longstanding failure to properly supervise deputies contributed to Espinoza’s suffering, among other accusations.

“It was foreseeable that a woman left alone in a weakened state with no food or water would be unable to defend herself,” the filing says. “It was foreseeable that leaving someone in a ditch would cause her to suffer from exposure and die.”

A representative for the Sheriff’s Office declined comment.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by attorneys Eugene Iredale and Julia Yoo. It asks for a jury trial to determine an unspecified amount of damages.

The county has in recent years spent almost $158 million on legal payouts. Most of that total, nearly $95 million, involved accusations of misconduct by sheriff’s personnel, and Tuesday’s lawsuit suggests that Espinoza’s death resulted from similar issues.

Dispatch records note that someone in late July reported a woman “sitting in ditch” who “has not had food or water.” Yet while a sheriff’s vehicle did pull up to the area, it soon backed up and drove off without anyone stepping outside, according to a neighbor named Richard Quinones.

When that neighbor reached back out to say the woman remained in the ditch, Quinones said he got a call directly from someone at the Sheriff’s Office. “She’s a transient,” that person allegedly said, referring to Espinoza. “There’s gonna be more, get used to it.”

Espinoza was only taken to a hospital several days later after Quinones again saw her in the same ditch. This time she was half-naked and covered in ants. An autopsy later concluded that Espinoza was suffering from hypothermia when first responders finally pulled her out.

Supervisors at the Sheriff’s Office “were aware that their deputies were treating unhoused or ‘transient’ people differently than housed people,” the lawsuit alleges. “They took no action to ensure that their deputies were providing equal services to all people.”

The filing additionally accuses the deputy who responded to the scene of lying.

Public records show that a caller asked for a welfare check on a woman in a ditch the morning of July 29. About a half-hour later, the dispatch record was updated to label the call as “GA.” Those letters can sometimes stand for “gone on arrival,” meaning that deputies can’t find the person in question.

“This was a lie,” the lawsuit alleges.

Then, despite the caller reaching back out, the dispatch record ends a few minutes later. It’s unclear why there wasn’t more follow-up. The call record was heavily redacted before it was released to The San Diego Union-Tribune, and it’s possible that the explanation was blacked out.

Regardless, the attorneys for Espinoza’s family argue that a deputy must have improperly “cleared” the call in the computer system. This prevented others from helping Espinoza, the lawsuit alleges. If the deputy had instead “ignored the call or rejected the call, another deputy would have responded to offer Ms. Espinoza help.”

Furthermore, the attorneys add a new detail to the theory that Espinoza was sexually assaulted in the ditch. Around the same time of Quinones’ initial request for a welfare check, a different neighbor witnessed “a man coming out of the area where Ms. Espinoza had last been seen, acting suspiciously,” the lawsuit says. “When the man saw the neighbor, he hurried away.”

“That neighbor did not call the police because she knew that Mr. Quinones had already called” and been told “to leave it alone,” the filing adds.

The autopsy report previously noted “multiple contusions and abrasions” on Espinoza’s body. The sheriff’s Major Crimes Division launched an investigation into a possible assault.

Separate inquires into whether a deputy ignored calls for aid are being overseen by the sheriff’s office and the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board.

Staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.