Ronnie Sandoval
Ronnie Paul Sandoval, 46, was held at the San Diego Central Jail in February 2014 and died early on February 23 after booking. His widow, Anna Sandoval, described him as a generous, caring man who looked after friends and family and took pride in helping others. Deputies were said to have noticed him shaking and sweating during booking, and his family's lawsuit says he was left largely unsupervised for about eight hours in the medical observation unit while a nurse performed only brief blood-sugar checks. He suffered a seizure around 1 a.m. and paramedics arrived about 47 minutes later; he was pronounced dead at 2:11 a.m. The county ruled the death an accidental overdose, but a federal jury in 2024 found that jail medical staff had failed to properly care for him and awarded his family nearly $2 million, which the county continues to challenge.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose (disputed; neglect alleged). The official ruling was an accidental overdose, but his family's lawsuit says jail medical staff did not respond to his symptoms and a federal jury found that nurses failed to properly care for him.
Reported by: official ruling (agency not named in the accounts); federal jury; Anna Sandoval and his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family sued San Diego County, and a federal jury found the county liable and awarded nearly $2 million, a figure the county continues to challenge.
News reports (3)
- Jury awards $1.8 million to family of man who died in San Diego County jail 10 years ago - San Diego Union-Tribune
- After record $15 million settlement, San Diego County still confronts a slew of other jail-death lawsuits - San Diego Union-Tribune
- ‘I wasn’t going to give up’: How one woman’s legal fight for her late husband is helping other survivors - San Diego Union-Tribune