$5.5 Million Settlement Reached With Family Of Man Who Died In MTS Custody

Speaker 1: 00:00 As the nation waits for a verdict in the George Floyd killing a case with a disturbingly, similar set of facts has just been resolved in San Diego in October 20, 1924 year old angel Sabata Hernandez died after being restrained with knees in his back and on his neck by transit law enforcement yesterday a $5.5 million settlement was announced in the case, as well as the reforms in the policing policies of San Diego's metropolitan transit system. Johnnie Mae is David Hernandez who covers law enforcement for the San Diego union Tribune. And David welcome. Thanks for having me. Can you remind us about the circumstances surrounding the death of on hell Hernandez? Where did it happen? Speaker 2: 00:45 Yeah, so it happened, uh, as you mentioned in October, 2019, and it all unfolded, um, along the railroad tracks, just North of the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. And what we know is that, uh, MTS officers saw him, uh, wandering back and forth along the tracks. And eventually one of the officers approached him and started talking to him. And, uh, that's when the encounter unfolded. He ultimately ran off for a bit until they caught up to him and I a struggle ensued. And eventually that struggle took them to the ground. And like you mentioned, officers ended up putting a, their knees to his back. And one of the officers also put his knee to his neck. And that lasted for roughly six minutes, according to a video, which was just released yesterday, Speaker 1: 01:36 Hernandez has described as mentally ill. What problems was he suffering from? Speaker 2: 01:40 So according to his family, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017. And, um, he also had a history of drug abuse, although he was in recovery, he had gone to treatment and was going to some narcotics anonymous meetings, but, uh, he, he was still, you know, dealing with the schizophrenia and was taking medication for that. Um, it's worth noting that there were no illegal drugs in his system when, when he died according to toxicology reports. So Speaker 1: 02:08 It was restrained by an MTS police officer and a security officer who had him on the ground. And as you mentioned with a knee on his neck for about six minutes, according to the video, what happened when San Diego police arrived at the scene? Speaker 2: 02:24 Yeah. So once a officers got there, they essentially, interestingly enough, they add it all unfolded pretty quickly once they arrived, but they initially told that the officers to keep him on the ground and then asked if he, if he meaning Hernandez had calmed down. And that's when one of the MTS officers starts talking to angel or rather tries to talk to him, he asks angel, are you alive, dude? And they quickly noticed that something is wrong. And the one of the San Diego police officers, um, asks if he has a pulse and reaches for Hernandez neck to check for a pulse, um, they flipped them over and they realize that there's foam around his mouth. Um, and they call for medics. And eventually he's taken to a hospital where he is pronounced dead. Speaker 1: 03:07 So this whole scenario is tragically. Like what we've been hearing happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis, were the officers involved in Hernandez, death, criminally charged. Speaker 2: 03:19 They were not. So the way the process works, it worked rather in this case, is that San Diego police investigated the death and presented the case to the district attorney's office. Um, and the office ultimately decided not to seek charges against the officers, um, in a statement to, uh, our paper yesterday, they essentially said that they felt they couldn't improve any criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt. And, um, so, so it's really interesting because like you mentioned, there are some similarities with this case and that the George florid case. Um, and so it's a little unclear, you know, what that process, or rather that decision-making process from the district attorney's office entailed. Um, and that's something we may try to look into a little bit more, but no criminal charges were brought forward in this case Speaker 1: 04:09 Are the two officers still with MTS, Speaker 2: 04:12 Both officers have since resigned. Speaker 1: 04:15 So this $5.5 million settlement with the Hernandez family was announced by County supervisor, Nathan Fletcher. What are some of the things he said about Angel's death and the response from MTS? Speaker 2: 04:27 So we called the Angel's death, a seminal moment for the agency. Um, one that caused them to take a deep look at their policies and practices. He said, he essentially said that it was a tragedy that should have been avoided. And he apologized to the family and said that MTS was committed to making changes and outlined several of the changes that they have made. And he also mentioned others that the agency's committed to still working on, uh, including, for example, banning, uh, officers from putting people in a prone position. Speaker 1: 05:03 Talk to me a bit about the changes MTS has made in an effort to stop this from happening again. Speaker 2: 05:09 Right? So again, going off of this death, which, uh, supervisor Fletchers said should have been avoided, they kind of took a look at all of their policies and practices, and it's worth noting that they had started doing that in 2017, but it really picked up momentum after this deaths. And especially in light of George Floyd's death, they banned carotid restraints. They also banned some choke holds and prohibited officers from putting a knee on a person's head throat or neck. Speaker 1: 05:38 Okay. Then I've been speaking with David Hernandez. He covers law enforcement for the San Diego union Tribune. And David, thank you very much for speaking with us. Speaker 2: 05:47 Thanks for having me.