Victim’s father files wrongful death lawsuit against Anthony Wagon

See the case write-up

FARMINGTON, N.M. — The father of Jeremy Beard, allegedly intentionally run over in 2017, is suing the accused killer and his insurance company for his son’s death.

Anthony Wagon

Christian Beard filed the lawsuit in Farmington District Court on April 24, 2020, naming accused killer Anthony Wagon, 23, relatives Hershell Wagon and Tina Wagon and insurance companies MGA Insurance Company and Gainsco Insurance Company.

Anthony Wagon allegedly ran down Jeremy Beard, 29, on April 26, 2017 with his truck, after Jeremy Beard took him down during a scuffle following accusations over a stolen beer. Jeremy Beard was his aunt’s husband.

Anthony Wagon is charged with first-degree murder for Jeremy Beard’s death and his case is ongoing.

Christian Beard’s attorney, William Jaworski, wrote in the lawsuit that MGA and Gainsco insured the truck allegedly used to run over Jeremy Beard, and the three Wagons paid the insurance premiums.

When Anthony Wagon allegedly ran down Jeremy Beard, he operated the car in a “negligent and reckless manner,” Jaworski wrote.

“The car accident that killed Jeremy Beard was foreseeable,” he wrote. “The car accident was a proximate cause of Jeremy Beard’s death.”

He is asking for reasonable damages, compensatory damages for the loss of consortium, for the enhanced injury of death and punitive damages, according to the lawsuit.

No hearings have been set in the case.

Read more about the criminal case in the write-up or read more stories about the case

See the case documents on Google Drive or Document Cloud

Continue reading “Victim’s father files wrongful death lawsuit against Anthony Wagon”

Ruben Toledo – Cibola County Detention Center (jail death) — 7-1-2017

 

Summary

After a federal park ranger arrested him on a charge of drunk driving on June 21, Ruben Toledo, of Albuquerque, was transferred to the Cibola County Detention Center, where he proceeded to go through alcohol withdrawals, according to court documents.

Allegedly denied adequate medical care, he became so weak he could not walk but, after suffering at least one seizure, a nurse directed he be put into a shower on June 24. Guards carried him there, where he slumped over, before calling for emergency medical attention. When emergency staff arrived, they began CPR and Toledo was transferred to the Cibola hospital, and then to the University of New Mexico Hospital because his condition was so bad. He was taken off of life support on July 1, 2017. He never regained consciousness after he left the jail, according to a lawsuit complaint, filed Aug. 8, 2019.

Federal District Judge Kenneth Gonzales dismissed one count of the lawsuit filed against nurse Michael Hildenbrant and physician’s assistant Michelle Lucero, for violation of due process rights for inadequate medical care, on the grounds they are entitled to qualified immunity, in an order dated Sept. 2, 2020.

Read stories about the case or see the case documents on Google Drive or Document Cloud

 

Initial arrest

On June 20, 2017, U.S. Park Ranger Steven Powers arrested Ruben Toledo, 42, on charges of DUI, possession of alcohol in a vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.

Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, NM. Photo by Mike Tungate/Flickr. CC-BY-ND

Powers wrote in an affidavit for a criminal complaint that he pulled up to Toledo’s truck, in the parking lot of the Petroglyph National Monument, because it was near closing time. Toledo appeared to be drunk and there were two open beers on the floorboard. Another unnamed person was also in the truck.

After conducting a field sobriety test, followed by a breath test, Powers arrested Toledo. The breath test came back at 0.27. During a search of the truck, Powers found marijuana, he wrote.

After taking him to a Albuquerque Police Department substation, Toledo’s blood-alcohol content came back as between 0.23 and 0.20, he wrote.

He was booked into the Sandoval County jail, Powers wrote.

Held without bail

On June 21, Toledo was also brought into court, in front of Magistrate Judge Kirtan Khalsa, for an initial appearance. Prosecutor Nicholas Ganjei, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, moved for Toledo to be held without bail. Toledo had no attorney and Khalsa ordered him held without bail. The entire hearing lasted for five minutes, according to a minutes sheet.

It is not clear if this was before or after he was transferred from the Sandoval County Detention Center to the Cibola County Detention Center.

A preliminary detention hearing was supposed to be set for the next day, June 22, but there are no more docket entries after those for June 21, which included a notice of an oral detention order issued by Khalsa and the appoint of Christopher Lucero as Toledo’s attorney.

Although the docket does not reflect when it was edited, Toledo was “terminated” as a part to the case on June 23.

Nothing else exists on the docket, even though Toledo would remain in the state’s custody until his death 10 days later at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, after being taken off life support.

Lawsuit against Cibola County Detention Center

On June 20, 2019, Toledo’s wife, Natalia Antonio, filed a lawsuit through attorney Alyssa Quijano against the Cibola County, warden Adrianne Jaramillo, nurse Michael Hildenbrant, Sgt. Lisa Burnside and physician’s assistant Michelle Lucero, for Toledo’s wrongful death. The following is from the amended complaint filed on Aug. 8, 2019.

June 21

Toledo was “quickly transferred” from the Sandoval County Detention Center to the Cibola County Detention Center the day following his arrest, June 21, 2017, attorney Alyssa Quijano wrote in an amended complaint against the Cibola County Detention Center for Toledo’s wrongful death.

“When Ruben arrived at the facility, he told staff he suffered from depression and anxiety, and staff noted that he was chemically impaired,” she wrote.

Toledo said he had been drinking the day prior to being booked and his vital signs were abnormal — his blood pressure was 169/94, his pulse was 100 beats per minute and he had a glucose level of 161. Jail staff cleared him to be housed in general population, Quijano wrote.

Toledo remained in the general population for two days and he began to suffer from alcohol withdrawal, she wrote.

As in Toledo’s case, alcohol withdrawal is often be deadly. (At least three cases currently in the jail death database were from alcohol withdrawal, although this is incomplete and many autopsy reports are pending or have not been requested yet).

Toledo asked to be moved out of the general population because he feared he was in danger from other inmates attacking him and he was beginning to have hallucinations, a symptom of severe alcohol withdrawal, also known as delirium tremens, Quijano wrote.

June 23

On June 23, two days after he had been transferred to the Cibola County Detention Center, Physician’s Assistant Michelle Lucero saw him. He reported is daily alcohol use before being booked and she found his blood pressure and pulse were elevated, she wrote.

Lucero found that Toledo was a “difficult historian” with a “poor memory” and he has a “knowledge deficit.”

“Despite obvious signs and symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, Defendant Lucero failed to provide any treatment for his withdrawal,” Quijano wrote. “Instead, Defendant Lucero ordered Mr. Toledo be given Lisinopril, a blood pressure medication, and Metformin, a medication used to treat diabetes. Ruben was sent back to his cell with no further care or monitoring ordered.”

Later that day, Toledo called the master control room, screaming, to be let out of his cell, as he had been hallucinating. When guards opened his door, he tried to get out. Guards handcuffed him and brought him to the medical unit. There, he told staff he was experiencing alcohol withdrawal and was hallucinating, she wrote.

The medical staff called nurse Michael Hildenbrant, who does not have prescribing authority and was not at the facility, said to put him on their alcohol withdrawal “protocol,” which included prescription medications. He should have been hospitalized, she wrote.

Quijano wrote, “When this medication was prescribed, Ruben’s vitals were still abnormal, with a blood pressure of 179/100 and a pulse of 120 beats per minute. Until this point, Ruben had not been monitored for his withdrawal. In light of his severe symptoms of withdrawal, Ruben should have been hospitalized. Instead, Ruben was sent to segregation.”

Hildenbrant prescribed Librium (Chlordiazepoxide) and clonidine. However, his condition had so deteriorated that the Librium “amounted to no care at all,” Quijano wrote.

While in segregation, Toledo was to be periodically monitored by jail guards, but not by medical staff. He continued to act strangely, including weeping in his cell, chanting and wrapping himself in toilet paper.

“Despite this, Ruben received no medical attention in response to his erratic behavior,” Quijano said.

Later that evening, presumably June 23, medical assistant Rayleen Ray went to his cell to give him his medication. He was lying on the ground. He refused to take his medication and eventually agreed, but only if he could take it standing up, she wrote.

Toledo’s condition was so bad that he could not stand up on his own and guards had to help him to his feet. He was still not provided any medical care, she wrote.

A few hours later, Ray went to check on Ruben and looked at him through the food port. She told the segregation guard to alert if if things were not “looking good,” Quijano wrote.

June 24

The next morning, Toledo had an alcohol-induced seizure. Sgt. Lisa Burnside was called to Toledo’s cell and looked at him through the food port. He was on the floor, seizing, Quijano wrote.

Officers entered the cell and once he stopped, Burnside asked if he was OK. Toledo looked at her but he could not speak. She saw dried blood on his forehead an indication that he suffered a head injury while in his cell, likely from a seizure, she wrote.

“Rather than call 911, Defendant Burnside directed officers to take Ruben to the shower to clean up,” Quijano wrote.

Burnside went to find Toledo a new, clean cell, she wrote.

“Ruben needed a hospital, not a new cell,” Quijano wrote.

Toledo was so weak that he could not walk on his own. Guards carried him to the shower, Quijano, wrote.

“When officers got him to the shower, Ruben was unable to stand on his own, so he was placed on the ground,” she wrote. “Ruben slumped over on the ground and became unresponsive.”

The guards did not call for medical staff, 911 or other emergency medical services. Instead, they tried to lift Toledo into a chair, before “eventually” calling for medical staff.

“When they arrived, medical staff directed officers to call 911 and begin CPR,” Quijano wrote.

Once he left the jail, he would never regain consciousness, she wrote.

Toledo was transported to the Cibola General Hospital. When he arrived, he was unresponsive. Blood work showed his sodium levels were “critically high” and his carbon dioxide levels were “critically low,” she wrote.

“Medical staff also noted Ruben suffered significant bruising,” Quijano wrote.

He was also extremely dehydrated. His condition was so severe that they were not able to treat him and he was transferred to the University of New Mexico Hospital, she wrote.

Toledo remained on life support until July 1, 2017. Soon after he was taken off, he was pronounced dead. The county closed the jail three weeks later, she wrote.

Deprivation of civil rights

Quijano sued Lucero, Burnside and Hildenbrant for violation of Toledo’s due process rights through inadequate medical care and wrote that if Toledo received the medical attention he needed as he experienced alcohol withdrawal, he would have survived.

District Judge Kenneth Gonzales dismissed count one of the lawsuit filed against Hildenbrant and Lucero on the grounds they are entitled to qualified immunity.

“Defendants knew they were incapable of providing adequate medical care at CCDC,” Quijano wrote. “Defendants failed to obtain medical care until Ruben was slumped over and unresponsive. Ruben never regained consciousness after this.”

Cibola County, Lucero, Burnside and Hildenbrant are also being sued for negligent maintenance of a medical facility and negligent provision of medical care.

“Defendants routinely provided substandard care, or no care at all, to inmates in their facility,” Quijano wrote. “Upon information and belief, Defendants do not transport inmates to the emergency room to avoid costs of treatment.”

Quijano also lodged one count of a custom and policy of violating constitutional rights against warden Adrianna Jaramillo, alleging that during her tenure and that of her predecessors, the jail provided inadequate medical care to inmates.

She cited the case of Douglas Edmisten, who died in the jail in 2016 from internal bleeding. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit and it settled for $5 million.

A motion to dismiss filed by the county is pending.

Autopsy report

Office of the Medical Investigator pathologist Matthew Cain wrote, in a heavily redacted autopsy report, that based on the evidence presented to him, Toledo died from chronic alcohol abuse and he had “significant liver disease” and alcoholics are at risk for “metabolic abnormalities” and withdrawal complications.

Despite evidence of alcohol withdrawal in the lawsuit, it is not mentioned in the autopsy report, except as a perfunctory note in the summary and opinion that it can cause seizures and death. Neither Cain’s report nor the deputy field investigation by Tom Conklin makes mention of the seizures Toledo suffered, as noted in the wrongful death lawsuit, although it is unclear what was redacted.

Cain wrote that Toledo had no evidence of “significant” injury. However, in the evidence of injuries section of the autopsy report, he listed three wounds on Toledo:

  • A blunt head injury. “Healing laceration on forehead”
  • On the chest: “Faint, black, 7 cm contusion on left side of chest”
  • On the extremities: “Abrasions on left knee.”

Toledo suffered a head wound seven days before he died, Quijana wrote in the lawsuit complaint.

The narrative of the deputy field investigation, by Tom Conklin, is redacted except for two-and-a-half sentences. It makes no mention of seizures or Toledo’s fall:

“Seth advised that the decedent had been incarcerated in the Cibola County Detention Center. The decedent was found shaking on the shower floor. He became unresponsive and bystander (REDACTED).”

The narrative outlined in the lawsuit compares starkly with the outline Cain and Conklin noted in the autopsy report and the deputy field investigation.

In the field investigation, Conklin wrote Toledo was “found shaking on the shower floor.” What happened next is redacted.

In Cain’s summary and opinion, he used the same sentence, that Toledo was “found shaking on the shower floor.” Again, what happened next is redacted.

That compares starkly with the lawsuit allegations, that guards carried Toledo into the shower and he slumped over. Guards then lifted Toledo into a chair and eventually called for medical help, according to the lawsuit.

Neither Cain’s autopsy report not Conklin’s field investigation mention that Toledo was taken to a local hospital, and then to the University of New Mexico hospital, after he lost consciousness at the jail.

Both documents also do not mention that Toledo died after being taken off of life support.

Read stories about the case or see the case documents on Google Drive or Document Cloud

Daniel Boscon – Sandoval County Detention Center (jail death) — 3-28-2014

 

Summary

On March 28, 2014, Daniel Boscon, 46,  Bernalillo Police Officer Jeff McGinnis arrested Daniel Boscon for being disorderly. Despite his pleas for medical attention for dizziness and the laceration on his head, he was brought to the Sandoval County Detention Center where he died 30 minutes after being placed in a cell, according to a lawsuit.

The case settled in June 2017.

The incident

On March 28, 2014, Bernalillo Police Officer Jeff McGinnis arrested Daniel Boscon after reports that he was “acting in a disorderly fashion,” attorney Rachel Higgins  wrote in a first amended complaint for wrongful death filed Oct. 26, 2015.

Boscon’s estate was represented by Leon Howard, an attorney.

McGinnis handcuffed Boscon and placed him in the back of a police car. During the drive, Boscon “begged” McGinnis to take him to the hospital and said he was dizzy and had a cut on his head, Higgins wrote.

“There was no doubt that Decedent had injured his head–Defendant McGinnis could clearly see that Decedent’s head was bleeding, and had witnessed Decedent bang his head on the partition cage in Defendant McGinnis’ car,” Higgins wrote.

McGinnis told his supervisor, Sgt. Darrell Sanchez, that Boscon was bleeding and wanted to go to the hospital. Sanchez told McGinnis to take him to the Sandoval County Detention Center and “see what happens,” she wrote.

Sandoval County Detention Center

McGinnis tried to remove Boscon from the car without waiting for jail personnel to open the sally port, “contrary to known safety protocols,” she wrote.

Three unnamed Bernalillo Police Department officers then arrived at the jail and helped McGinnis try to pull Boscon out of the car with “significant force,” Higgins wrote.

One unidentified officer tried to remove Boscon by “using all of his body weight” against him and when that didn’t work, another tried to push push him out “using a great amount of force with with his body,” she wrote.

That struggle ended with officers pulling Boscon out of the rear passenger door, “after which Decedent fell face down onto the ground,” she wrote.

As he lay on the ground, multiple Bernalillo officers held him face down and handcuffed for two minutes and shackled his legs.

He was then taken to the booking area where he struggled. McGinnis accompanied him and did not tell jail staff that Boscon had complained about dizziness or that he had injured his head.

In apparent surveillance footage, McGinnis follows Boscon into the shower area after he was led away from booking and during the booking process he can be seen using a cell phone. He refused to hand over documents related to the cell phone, including its number, citing ongoing investigations, Higgins wrote in a motion to compel.

“Decedent again requested that he be given medical attention, this time, also, to SCDC personnel,” Higgins wrote in the complaint.

Jail staff did not give him any medical attention and staff did not conduct an “adequate” screening. He was then “placed in restraints”, booked, and placed in a cell with a window in the door, she wrote.

“Decedent was discovered unconscious by SCDC personnel 30 minutes after he was placed into the cell,” Higgins wrote.

The jail’s policy is to refuse to book anyone who arrives “in the midst of medical emergencies” and if he had told jail staff that Boscon said he had been feeling dizzy and had an injured head, they would have refused to book him, she wrote.

Higgins charged negligence by the police officers an the jail staff, battery by McGinnis and the three unnamed Bernalillo Police officers and failure to train and supervise both the officers and jail staff.

Autopsy report

According to an autopsy report written by pathology fellow Linda Szymanski and Pathologist Ross Zumwalt, Boscon died from an overdose of methamphetamine. Hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease were significant contributing conditions. The manner of death was an accident.

The autopsy showed one-vessel severe coronary artery disease and evidence of chronic myocardial ischemia, which is the death of heart tissue due to a lack of oxygen.

He had minor scrapes and bruises on his face and legs and blood in his chest, although this was put down to likely results of CPR.

The concentrations of methamphetamine in Boscon’s blood were “high.”

According to the toxicology report, he had an amphetamine level of 99 ng/ml and 2500 methamphetamine ng/ml in his blood, although no comparison is given for those quantities.

Settlement

The Town of Bernalillo and Sandoval County both settled in June 2017, for a total of $346,581.

According to a lawsuit filed by the Human Rights Defense Center, the Sandoval County jail’s print out for “NMAC Law Enforcement cases closed” in October 2017 reported the county “paid $256,581.54 to the estate of Daniel Boscon for a “[w]rongful death claim while in jail.”

According to a settlement agreement provided by the county, they paid $100,000.

The Town of Bernalillo settled the claims for $90,000, according to a claims release.

Daniel Boscon

According to his obituary, Boscon was born in Long Beach, Calif. and he was a musician who played guitar.

“Daniel liked geology, panning for gold and was a jack-of-all-trades,” according to his obituary.

He is survived by his mother, his son and his sister.

Do you have information about this case? NM Homicide needs your assistance. Please fill out this form or contact us.

See the case documents on Google Drive or Document Cloud

Kevin Sanchez: Mickey Owings — 3-29-2010 (Police shooting)

Summary

On March 29, 2010, Albuquerque Police Det. Kevin Sanchez fatally shot Mickey Owings, 26, as he fled from a Wal-Mart parking lot and after police tried to surround his car. According to police accounts, Owings drove into unoccupied police cars before Sanchez shot him.

The case was named in the federal Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department’s use of force. In the report, federal investigators wrote that Sanchez was driving into unoccupied vehicles in his bid to get away and damage to property did not justify killing him.

Owings’ family sued the city after the report came out and in 2018, the case settled for $375,000, according to the Albuquerque Journal. A state district court judge initially dismissed the lawsuit, filed for a loss of consortium, but that decision was reversed by the Appeals Court and reaffirmed by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

According to the report

From the Department of Justice report:

In March 2010, a plainclothes detective shot and killed Mickey Owings after Owings’ car was boxed in by an unmarked APD vehicle in a commercial parking lot. The encounter began because officers had received information that a stolen car was located in the parking lot. Several officers positioned unmarked cars in the parking lot around the suspected stolen car. Owings then drove a different car into the parking lot and parked directly next to the stolen car. A passenger got out of Owings’ car and started to get in the stolen car, and officers drove one unmarked car directly behind Owings while the plainclothes detective approached Owings’ car on foot. Owings backed his car into the unmarked police car and another civilian’s car, and as he did so, the detective drew his gun, pointed it at Owings, and ran closer to Owings’ car. Owings then drove straight forward into two parked cars. As he did so, the detective shot Owings. Owings continued driving forward and actually pushed the two empty, parked cars in front of him out of the way. Owings then drove out of the parking lot but soon seems to have lost consciousness on a nearby road. His car slowed to a stop, and when officers got to him, he had died. Owings was not armed.

The department’s use of force policy permits officers to fire at the driver of a moving vehicle only when the car itself poses a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. (As noted below, the better policy, followed by many departments, is to prohibit officers from firing their weapons at cars altogether.) The use of force policy limits the circumstances in which officers may shoot at drivers because of the substantial risks that are involved: the officer may miss and hit an innocent civilian or fellow officer, or the driver may become incapacitated, leaving the moving car completely out of control. Owings did not pose a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or anyone else; he was driving straight into unoccupied, parked cars when he was shot. This damage to property, as serious as it was, did not justify taking Owings’ life. The detective who shot Owings could very easily have missed and hit one of the innocent civilians walking through the parking lot; moreover, after Owings was shot, the probability that he would injure someone with his car increased dramatically. Brosseau v.Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 199-201 (2004) (collecting federal appellate cases on police shootings at moving cars and acknowledging that such shootings can be unreasonable); Vaughan v. Cox, 343 F.3d 1323, 1333 (11th Cir. 2003) (“[A] reasonable officer would have known that firing into the cabin of a pickup truck, traveling at approximately 80 miles per hour on Interstate 85 in the morning, would transform the risk of an accident on the highway into a virtual certainty.”). But see Scott, 550 U.S. at 382-84 (2007) (noting that a car can itself be a deadly weapon that can justify the use of deadly force).

False police narrative

Even though Owings was unarmed, and he tried to push through to unoccupied vehicles, that did not stop the Albuquerque Police Department from painting their actions as justified at the outset.

The police narrative is captured by an Albuquerque Journal story from March 30, 2010, as noted in one of the two online headlines:

“Armed Robbery Suspect Fatally Shot by Albuquerque Police”

The unbylined story has a second headline, “ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Shooting occurred as man fled in a vehicle from a Walmart parking lot on city’s West Side.”

The lede, or first sentence, sums up the false narrative:

“Albuquerque police fatally shot an armed robbery suspect in the parking lot of a busy Walmart on Monday after the suspect rammed police vehicles and shoppers’ cars in an effort to get away, authorities said.”

The police chief at the time, Ray Schultz, said Owings actions were “very violent.” He made no mention that the police cars he was ramming into were totally unoccupied, a lie by omission.

The Department of Justice report states that the police department’s policy at the time was that officers could only shoot at cars if “when the car itself poses a threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”

NM Political Report posted the surveillance footage from the killing. See below:

See the case files on Google Drive or Document Cloud.

This case is a stub. Want to expand it? Then come write for us or request the settlement agreement and send it to us.