Probe Requested in Death of Man Held in County Jail

A civic activist called Thursday for an independent investigation into the death last week of a man in the downtown County Jail.

Roberto Martinez, head of the American Friends Service Committee, said San Diego County sheriff’s deputies beat Manuel Aquiningoc, and that he probably died before being taken to UC San Diego Medical Center.

A Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said Aquiningoc, 30, was arrested at 2 a.m. July 2 by San Diego police on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and for resisting arrest.

Although neighbors said police were called after Aquiningoc ran up and down the street screaming, a family friend said that he had done nothing more than argue with a neighbor and returned from dinner to find five squad cars in front of his home.

Officers eventually put the man in a carotid restraint hold, which cuts oxygen to the brain, and he passed out, family friend Dave Hill said Thursday. When he came to, he saw police handling his pregnant wife in a rough manner, Hill said, which upset Aquiningoc.

Aquiningoc, a former parts manager of a Volkswagen dealership, was placed into a holding tank. At 7:10 a.m., he was taken to a booking window and started yelling and screaming at booking clerks, and was taken to a padded cell, spokeswoman Victoria Reden, a sheriff’s deputy, said Thursday.

Aquiningoc began struggling with deputies and went into cardiac arrest, Reden said. Deputies administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and paramedics took him to UCSD Medical Center.

He was pronounced dead at 9:26 a.m. at the hospital.

Jose Casarez, an intern at a Latino newspaper who was in jail while Aquiningoc was being transported to UCSD Medical Center, said he saw Aquiningoc, who “looked dead,” taken out of the jail on a stretcher.

He said he overheard deputies discussing with a jail nurse what had happened, and the employees seemed to be trying to make sure their reports all said the same thing.

Casarez, who was arrested for refusing to sign a traffic ticket, said he spoke to other inmates who said Aquiningoc had been beaten. Casarez said he saw another inmate slammed against a wall.

Jerry Hillbrand, an investigator for the county medical examiner, said an autopsy has been completed, but his office was still waiting for toxicology results, which are expected by next week.

The U.S. Department of Justice visited San Diego County jails several times last year to examine potential abuses but has not revealed its findings.