Cruz Patiño Jr.
Cruz Patiño Jr. was 22. His mother said he was respectful and courteous, a gentleman who cherished his sisters and grandmother and opened doors for people, and that he had struggled with addiction after a serious car accident and hoped jail would help him get clean. He died on August 3, 2021, at the Pima County Adult Detention Complex in Tucson, Arizona, and the autopsy listed necrotizing pneumonia as the cause, classified as a natural death. His mother says jail staff did not properly treat him when he became ill, and the family's lawsuit alleges negligent medical care and says he should have been taken to a hospital sooner. The sheriff's department denies the allegations.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The autopsy attributed his death to necrotizing pneumonia and classified it as natural, while his mother, Frances Guzman, and the family's lawsuit say jail medical staff failed to get him to a hospital in time and allege negligent care; the sheriff's department denies the allegations.
Reported by: autopsy report; Frances Guzman (family or their lawyers); the family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers); Pima County Sheriff's Department (the agency that held him).
Lawsuit: His mother, Frances Guzman, has sued the Pima County sheriff's department and the jail's medical contractor over alleged negligent medical care, and no settlement or award amount has been reported.
News reports (6)
- News report
- Pima County jail faces scrutiny amid decade-high number of deaths
- ‘Unconstitutional hole’: How Pima County jail deaths — one recently ruled a homicide — are part of a grim pattern
- Pima County approves raise for guards at deadly jail
- Navigating a 'full-blown crisis' inside the Pima County Jail