Parents File $4-Million Suit in Jail Death

The parents of a man who died in the Orange County Jail 42 hours after his arrest filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday, charging that his rights had been violated by the jail commander, the county sheriff, the City of Santa Ana and Orange County.

Mae and Abner English filed the suit in federal court in Santa Ana in connection with the death of their son, Terry, 31, who was arrested on Nov. 7, hours after being released from the state prison at Chino, where he had served a sentence for violating parole.

Santa Ana Police Lt. Bob Jordan said police were called after a man later identified as English was seen jumping over the back fences of houses in the 400 block of South Diamond Street. Officers said they arrested English several blocks away on charges of being under the influence of phencyclidine (PCP), Jordan said.

English was taken to the police station and then to the Orange County Jail. He was kept in the jail’s medical ward after being booked around midnight on Friday, Nov. 8, and was found lying on the ward’s bathroom floor at 1:50 a.m. Nov. 9, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

He was taken to UCI Medical Center, where he died at 10:20 a.m.

The federal suit seeks $2 million in general damages from Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates; the jail commander, Capt. Wyatt Hart; Santa Ana and Orange County. The plaintiffs also seek punitive damages of $500,000 from each of the defendants.

Although the lawsuit offered no specifics, Abner English said in an interview that the family believes Terry English was beaten by Santa Ana police and Orange County sheriff’s deputies and died as a result.

The father said witnesses told the family about the beatings and added that Terry English “was refused proper medical treatment” by the staff at the jail.

Orange County, Santa Ana and Sheriff’s Department officials said they had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.

Abner English also said the family had determined that their son was taken from the jail before 2 a.m. but did not arrive at UCI Medical Center until “pretty close to 7.”

The district attorney’s office, which is investigating the death, declined comment. An investigator in the office, Wayne Field, said it could take several more weeks to obtain the results of an autopsy performed on English.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs said they plan to hire a pathologist to conduct another autopsy on behalf of the family.