Van Nuys Incident : Quadriplegic Who Broke Neck in Jail Sues Los Angeles

A Reseda upholsterer paralyzed after breaking his neck in Van Nuys Jail has sued the City of Los Angeles.

Police said Thursday that Gilbert Amescua, 31, injured himself by diving from an upper bunk onto the floor of his cell.

Nonetheless, police are responsible for Amescua’s injuries, said Fred H. Klonsky, one of the attorneys who Wednesday filed suit on behalf of Amescua in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles, asking $62 million.

“We have no information on whether it was officer-involved or self-inflicted,” said Klonsky. “But, even if it was self-inflicted, it shouldn’t have happened. Nobody should go into the custody of the LAPD and come out four days later a quadriplegic.”

Amescua is listed in fair condition at County-USC Medical Center, where doctors “consider him a quadriplegic,” according to a hospital spokesman.

Klonsky said police should have watched Amescua more closely, as he had been behaving erratically.

Moved by newly found religious convictions, Amescua, on Jan. 16, turned himself in to police because he had failed to appear in court for two minor traffic violations, Klonsky said. He was taken to the West Valley station, then transferred to Van Nuys; but the weekend and Martin Luther King Day delayed arraignment until Jan. 20.

In jail, he may have been put in “an isolation cell” for “severely annoying other inmates by preaching to them about the error of their ways,” Klonsky said.

Lt. Dan Cooke, police spokesman, told a different story. He said police stopped Amescua for a traffic violation and found that he had outstanding warrants on three traffic violations.

Amescua complained of stomach cramps at the West Valley station and was taken to Van Nuys Jail for treatment, Cooke said. Once there, he broke a toilet stool and was placed in a padded cell, Cooke said.

After several hours he calmed down, was examined by a physician and was returned to his cell, Cooke said, where he broke the toilet before leaping off the bunk.