A $16 million settlement has been reached between San Diego County and the family of a 22-year-old man who died in the San Diego Central Jail, with the family's attorneys saying a major factor in the case's resolution was the county's failure to preserve 55 hours of surveillance footage capturing the area outside the man's jail cell.
The settlement — believed to be the largest known wrongful death settlement in San Diego County history — resolves a lawsuit filed by the family of William Hayden Schuck, who died in March 2022, one month after the California State Auditor released a scathing report regarding the high rate of in-custody deaths at San Diego County jails.
Attorneys representing the Schuck family say numerous deficiencies highlighted in the report, such as inadequate safety checks of jail cells and delays in providing medical treatment, played direct roles in Schuck's death from dehydration and drug toxicity.
During a Wednesday news conference announcing the settlement, the attorneys also said the deletion of the video footage likely played a role in the county settling the case. Attorneys argued in court filings that the footage could have confirmed whether or not jail staff conducted safety checks of Schuck's cell during a period when his health rapidly declined.
Timothy Scott, one of those attorneys, said a San Diego federal judge sanctioned the county and ruled that if the case had gone to trial, jurors would be instructed that they could be allowed to assume whatever was contained in the footage would have reflected badly on the county.
"I do think that faced with that kind of jury instruction at trial, it did make the county more willing to settle," Scott said.
A statement issued by the San Diego County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday said "significant improvements have been made to our jail system" in the years since, but said "much more is needed, which will require significant investment from the county of San Diego."
Upgrades are being made at county jail facilities, including more modern camera platforms that can support longer retention of video footage, according to the statement.
The Sheriff's Office noted that the settlement funds will come out of its budget, but despite that, the county reached the settlement decision with no participation or input from the Sheriff's Office.
"We understand and respect that litigation is an important part of accountability," the statement said. "At the same time, improvements made since 2022 are improving the operations, expectations, medical processes, and technology within our jails. The Sheriff's Office remains committed to learning from the past while continuing forward progress and ensuring that past deficiencies are not repeated."
Schuck was arrested on March 10 on suspicion of driving under the influence and died less than a week later. Attorneys say that upon his arrest, he displayed clear signs of intoxication and withdrawal that should have resulted in medical treatment, but he was instead placed into a cell without a mattress, where he was "forgotten" for days, according to attorney Michelle Angeles.
The day before his March 16 death, Angeles said he was found naked with sores all over his body, while food and feces were strewn about his cell. During a court appearance that day, he was unable to even confirm his name, leading a judge to order that he be medically screened, according to the family's lawsuit. The Schucks' attorneys say that medical screening never occurred.
The complaint states that despite the drugs found in his system after his death, there were no indications that he used drugs while in jail or had interactions with any other inmates prior to his death.
Along with the monetary component, Scott said the settlement includes an agreement to institute changes to the county's training program for detention and correctional officers, though many of those proposed changes were still being finalized.
The $16 million figure eclipses a $15 million settlement reached last year between the county and the family of Elisa Serna, who died in 2019 at the Las Colinas women's jail in Santee.
