Family Sues for $28 Million in Death of Jail Inmate, 28

The family of an Orange County Jail inmate who died in his cell last year of an apparent drug overdose has filed a $28-million wrongful death suit against the Santa Ana Police Department, Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates, the jail and UCI Medical Center, charging that he was beaten while handcuffed and received improper medical care.

Thomas Maciel, a 28-year-old Santa Ana resident, died after collapsing in his jail cell. An autopsy report released in January concluded that Maciel was the victim of the combined effects of injecting and swallowing an overdose of drugs.

Court documents filed Wednesday said Maciel “was the victim of brutal beatings at the hands of” Santa Ana police officers. “The punishment administered was grossly disproportionate to whatever (Maciel’s) acts may have been, constituted cruel and unusual punishment. . . ,” the documents said.

Closely Observed

Jail and medical authorities said shortly after Maciel’s death last August that the inmate was closely observed for more than 20 hours following his arrest--including four hours during which Maciel was examined at UCI Medical Center in Orange--because they suspected that he had swallowed a balloon containing a potentially lethal dose of heroin.

But in the medical examination, which included X-rays, no balloon was detected and Maciel was returned to the jail. About 6 p.m. the day after his arrest, he was discovered unconscious on the cell floor. He was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center an hour later.

The suit was filed on behalf of Maciel’s widow, Verna B. Maciel, his parents, two brothers, two sisters and his six children.

Lt. Tom Conner, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, refused comment on the case.