San Diego County, six sheriff’s deputies and a California Highway Patrol officer have been named in a new lawsuit filed by the family of Abdul Kamara, who died after being restrained by officials at the Vista Detention Facility.
Kamara, who emigrated to the United States after escaping a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone and a dangerous refugee camp, died early last March. He was 29 years old and had been a student at the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad.
The federal lawsuit, filed Thursday by his mother Fredrika Nabbie, a nurse, joins a growing list of complaints against the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office that have collectively cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in recent years.
Kamara was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, even though deputies knew he had run away from a hospital in Encinitas an hour earlier and was supposed to return.
The lawsuit accuses defendants of negligence and wrongful death, saying Kamara should never have been taken to jail, physically restrained once he got there or denied immediate medical attention.
“The officers’ use of force was precipitated by a fall — Abdul fell over while trying to stand up,” the lawsuit states. “This led six officers to use compressional force to restrain Abdul, who was eventually placed in a WRAP restraint device and left on the ground.
“Although nurses and doctors work at Vista Detention Facility, none of the deputies asked for Abdul to be medically assessed or evaluated,” the complaint adds. “No one rendered aid to Abdul, who remained in the WRAP restraint.”
San Diego County officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The incident was investigated by San Diego police to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest. Late last year, the District Attorney’s Office declined to file any related criminal charges.
Kamara died March 3, several hours he fled Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas. Hospital officials had reported his departure to law enforcement and asked that he be returned for treatment if located, the lawsuit says.
He was found about an hour later writhing on the ground at a gas station about a mile away. But rather than return Kamara to the hospital, deputies drove him to Vista and began the process of booking him into custody.
In the sally port, where arrestees are brought into the jail for booking, Kamara was pinned down by deputies and a CHP officer and placed in the WRAP device.
The complaint points to prior jail deaths and serious injuries at the hands of San Diego sheriff’s deputies, alleging that a broad lack of accountability and discipline allowed negligent practices to continue for years.
“The Sheriff’s Department, however, refused to conduct unbiased investigations to determine whether deputies had committed misconduct; refused to hold individual deputies accountable; refused to discipline individual deputies who used unreasonable force; and refused to correct known training and policy deficiencies,” the complaint alleges.
“This has created a culture of apathy and impunity at the Sheriff’s Department,” it says.
The Kamara complaint also cites a history of sheriff’s deputies arresting people experiencing serious mental illness rather than taking them to a treatment facility.
“The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has a custom and practice of arresting individuals in need of urgent medical intervention and booking such arrestees into jail rather than first sending them to a hospital for medical clearance, including treatment and stabilization,” the suit says.
In the days and weeks after Kamara died, his loved ones struggled to obtain details about what led to his death. The lawsuit says county officials have continued to withhold key information from survivors and their lawyers.
“Both the Sheriff’s Department and SDPD rejected plaintiffs’ requests and refused to produce any audio, video, or other investigative evidence related to Abdul’s death,” the complaint says.
The Kamara lawsuit is the latest in a long-running series of cases filed against San Diego County and its Sheriff’s Office. The department for years had one of the highest jail-death rates among California’s largest counties.
In recent months alone, the Board of Supervisors has agreed to a $15 million settlement in the 2019 death of Elisa Serna and a nearly $5 million payment to the family of Michael Wilson. Both died in sheriff’s custody after failing to receive proper medical care.
Kamara had been a student at the Gemological Institute of America but took a semester off to return to his family’s home in Virginia to deal with his personal issues.
He had already bought a bus ticket and was due to leave San Diego the day after he died.
The latest lawsuit names as defendants San Diego County, deputies Alejandro Aguilera, Tyler Phillips, Christopher Aberle, Carlos Heard, Travis Kaapke, Derrick Jones and CHP Officer Klayton Liekkio.
