The family of U.S. Air Force veteran Maxwell Aguirre is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after the 22-year-old’s death by suicide in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
Aguirre was taken off life support after he hanged himself, an incident that occurred just weeks after a previous suicide attempt and while deputies who were supposed to be watching him were instead watching YouTube videos, as reported by Los Angeles Public Press.
Aguirre’s family and their attorneys said in a press conference Thursday morning that those deputies should be brought up on criminal charges.
Denisse Gastélum, an attorney for the family, said the deputies missed multiple checks on inmates in the hour leading up to the discovery that Aguirre had hanged himself. Instead, they watched online videos and ate Chick-fil-A, she added.
“They were literally sitting around a TV screen with their backs faced to the housing module watching YouTube videos,” she said. “That’s what they were doing.”
“They took an oath to serve the public,” added Omar Aguirre, Maxwell’s father. “They took an oath, and they violated it. So why are you getting paid? You should just resign.”
In a statement to KTLA, the LASD detailed that nearly half of the people in Los Angeles County Jails suffer from at least one mental illness, and officials detailed their regulations regarding those who could be a danger to themselves.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department goes to great lengths to maintain this immensely complex system and our primary goal is to ensure the safety of justice involved individuals within its custody, including those who are going through mental health crisis,” the statement said.
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