Riverside Sheriff’s Deputies Missed Signs Before Detainee Hanged Himself

U.S.|Deputies Missed Signs Before a Detainee Hanged Himself

Newly released videos and reports provide further evidence that sheriff’s deputies in Riverside County missed signs that a murder suspect awaiting trial at a Southern California jail was planning on taking his life.

Among other failures, deputies did not complete a required security check before the man was found unresponsive in his cell, according to documents and video footage released by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. In a report issued in July, a coroner’s deputy inaccurately claimed that they had checked. The new report by sheriff’s investigators also confirms that jail officials failed to take action as the man talked about possibly dying by suicide and sought help.

The new evidence follows an investigation by The New York Times and The Desert Sun revealing that possibly suicidal detainees were not properly monitored and that coroner’s reports of jail deaths were frequently inaccurate in the sprawling jail system east of Los Angeles.

The death was among five suicides in Riverside County jails in recent years, several of which occurred after the department failed to intervene when detainees covered their cell cameras in mental health housing units or made suicidal statements, the news organizations found.

The department’s report, which was released this month in response to a public records request, says that Aaron Aubrey began to cover his cell door window with newspaper about an hour before he was found unresponsive, apparently to keep anyone from looking inside.

A deputy delivered lunch to his cell after he had begun covering his window, according to a report by the department’s lead investigator. He was taken to a hospital and put on life support but later died.