On the morning of Dec. 29, 2012, Shane Horton was arrested and briefly detained in a holding cell at the then-headquarters of the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) on Cook Street on suspicion of domestic battery.
At the police station, Shane, who was 19 at the time, engaged in a 20-minute “polite conversation” with officer Duane Schneider and was told by Schneider to wave at the camera watching the cell if he needed anything.
Shane had just learned that his misdemeanor vandalism arrest was upgraded to felony domestic violence and that he would be transported to the Santa Barbara County Main Jail. His mother wasn’t able to post bail, which was $25,000, court documents show.
Officer Andrew Brice, the arresting officer, then called Shane’s mother, who told him that her son had attempted suicide more than two weeks before his arrest. It was while Brice was talking to Shane’s mother that Shane took off his belt, fashioned a loop through the bars of the cell, and proceeded to hang himself.
Nearly 26 minutes would go by before Shane was discovered by police, who were able to bring him back to life using CPR and a defibrillator. But the damage was already done. Shane is now disabled for the rest of his life, and in need of round-the-clock care. His mother, Yvonne Horton, is suing because she believes the police should be held accountable.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in August 2014 alleges deliberate indifference and negligence on part of the SMPD, and the case reached the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco this May.
The attempted suicide came shortly after Ralph Martin took the reins as chief of the SMPD. Martin told the Sun he couldn’t talk about the case because it’s being litigated.
This was the first time someone has attempted suicide in an SMPD holding cell.
Yvonne didn’t respond to messages left by the Sun before press time. However, attorneys for both parties who spoke to the Sun describe the situation as “tragic.”
According to attorney Bruce Praet, who’s representing the SMPD, the department tried to dismiss the case, then sought a summary judgment. Now it’s appealing a partial summary judgment granted by the lower court that said there were still issues with the facts surrounding the incident.
“We feel badly for Shane and his parents, but it’s just that the police aren’t to blame,” Praet said.
Yvonne’s attorney, Bob Finnerty, contends that the SMPD knew that Shane was distraught and should’ve taken extra steps to protect him.
The hanging is not apparent in the video recorded from the holding cell, according to court documents. The video doesn’t show Shane’s upper body, and it appears he’s simply sitting with his back against the cell door.
“The video is heartbreaking to see,” Finnerty said. “From the moment Shane entered their custody, he told them he was scared and not in the right mind. Instead of watching the camera, the officer spoke to Shane’s mom after knowing that she wasn’t going to bail him out immediately.”
Officer Schneider’s attorney alleges in the lawsuit that Shane gave no indication of mental health problems to Schneider in their previous conversation. However, Shane did tell him that he didn’t want to be “locked up,” according to court documents.
There may have been previous signs of Horton’s suicidal tendencies. Two weeks before his attempted hanging, Horton was hospitalized for erratic behavior, but a doctor from Marian Regional Medical Center wrote in a medical report from that evening that Horton was not suicidal and attributed his condition to recreational drug use. He was given Ativan and released.
Nationally, police departments have recently come under public scrutiny because of detention practices. And a spate of jail suicides in 2015 have raised questions about whether inmates should be watched more closely.
In one instance, Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Chicago resident, was found hanged in a Waller County, Texas, jail cell on July 13, according to the The Huffington Post. It was discovered that she asphyxiated herself using a plastic bag.
Steven J. Martin, a national corrections consultant and Oklahoma-based attorney, told the The Huffington Post that it was “remarkably stupid” for the jail to leave plastic bags in cells.
In Shane’s case, Praet contends that the police acted dutifully by checking on Shane once every hour, as required by the SMPD training policy, as well as immediately rushing to his aid after finding him. They even went “far beyond the norm,” Praet said, by talking to him for an extended period of time.
Finnerty argues that police are still liable since he entered the cell wearing a belt. The training manual states that an arresting officer “should … remove all belts, shoes, and jackets.”
The issue becomes more complicated when considering words like should versus shall, with the former indicating discretion and the latter indicating a mandatory action.
Further complicating things is the difference between detention policies for holding cells as compared to jails, national corrections consultant Martin said. He added that there is a more thorough intake screening process for inmates in jails.
“They’re left [in holding cells] with all kinds of clothing and property that could lead to suicides,” Martin told the Sun. “It would be hard to put blame on the department for that suicide attempt.”
Attorneys Praet and Finnerty both told the Sun their clients are in talks to settle the case, which have thus far been unsuccessful. Praet told the Sun that it could be at least another 18 to 24 months until the case is settled.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Shane’s medical expenses.
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 16-23, 2016.