Deputy, Doctors Cleared in Jail Death

A Ventura County jury has found that a deputy and two doctors were not negligent in the death of a jail inmate who died two years ago from heart failure.

Joyce Streifel filed a lawsuit last year, alleging that her husband, John Streifel, 57, was not given proper care after complaining of extreme sickness following his June 7, 2002, arrest for public intoxication.

A civil jury issued its verdict Monday, according to court records.

“Mr. Streifel was hallucinating, vomiting and having an extremely hard time breathing,” the lawsuit said. “Throughout the night of July 8, 2002, and the morning of July 9, 2002, Mr. Streifel was wheezing, which sounded like there was water in his lungs.”

Streifel, a former psychologist at the California Youth Authority who had lived in Camarillo, was found dead in his cell at the main Ventura County Jail on July 9, 2002, the lawsuit contends.

At the time of his arrest, Streifel had been suffering from congestive heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure and alcoholism, according to the county’s attorney. Nurses at the jail saw Streifel after he was arrested, but he was never seen by a doctor or placed in the infirmary.

Joyce Streifel’s attorney, Earnest Bell, found inmates who contended that “medical personnel at the jail simply walked by Mr. Streifel’s cell and only glanced in his direction and did not examine him,” according to the lawsuit.

The verdict exonerated Sheriff’s Deputy James Tedder and Drs. Michael Hemsley and Aref Bhuiya, both of the California Forensic Medical Group.