Category: Custodial Death|El Paso Sheriff|Suicide

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, in El Paso, Texas, filed a custodial death report with Ken Paxton (Attorney General of Texas).  The report provided information regarding the death Noel Dominguez Torrez.  We are not certain whether the report should have listed the last name as “Torres” instead of “Torrez.” Mr. Torrez was only 44 years of age at the time of his death.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

Mr. Torrez was incarcerated in the El Paso County, Texas jail beginning November 24, 2019 at 1:35 a.m.  Just a few hours later, Mr. Torrez was found hanging from his bunkbed support rail.  He had been housed in cell block 810, cell 2L.  This was a general population cell block with four cells and a total of nine other inmates.  There are four bunkbeds in each cell.  Mr. Torrez was housed with three other inmates.

Mr. Torrez’s three other cellmates were outside of the cell in the day room.  One of the cellmates told another cellmate to look at Mr. Torrez.  Mr. Torrez was then observed laying on the floor with a towel tied around his neck at one end and the bunk support rail on the other end.  EMS were called to the scene, and Mr. Torrez was transferred to a local El Paso hospital.  Mr. Torrez was admitted to I.C.U. at Las Palmas Medical Center.  Mr. Torrez ultimately passed away on November 30, 2019.

The report indicates that Mr. Torrez made suicidal statements.  However, the report does not indicate whether Mr. Torrez was put on suicide on watch as a result of such statements.

Without regard to what happened to Mr. Torrez, the United States Constitution guarantees the right of Texas county jail inmates to receive reasonable medical care and mental health care.  The Constitution also guarantees the right to protection to such inmates, both from assaults by other inmates and from committing suicide.  These rights arise under the 14^th Amendment.  If a jailer or county violates these rights, the jailer or county may be liable to the inmate, if the inmate survives, or certain family members, if the inmate does not survive, for violation of federal law.  These cases are usually filed in federal court in Texas.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, in El Paso, Texas, filed a report with the Attorney General of Texas regarding the custodial death of Andre Feaster. The report was filed on July 18, 2019 – over 30 days after Mr. Feaster’s death. Therefore, it appears that the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department violated Texas law by failing to file a custodial death report within 30 days after the death. Regardless, we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone as it relates to Mr. Feaster’s death but instead are providing information extracted from that report.

Mr. Feaster was only 41 years old at the time he died. He had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance and a traffic warrant. He was originally incarcerated in the El Paso County detention facility. On June 4, 2019, Mr. Feaster claimed that he used heroin daily. He was then put on opioid protocol medication and housed in the jail’s general population.

On June 6, 2019, at 8:00 p.m., medical staff indicated that Mr. Feaster refused to take his medication. A detention officer said that, during nightly checks, Mr. Feaster was laying on his bunk. While the report does not reference a date, it reads that, at 6:04 a.m., two officers were conducting a head count and found Mr. Feaster hanging from a cell ventilation duct. It appears that Mr. Feaster had committed suicide. Mr. Feaster was pronounced as being deceased by EMS personnel 18 minutes later. An investigation is ongoing, and an autopsy was conducted. Based on our firm’s handling of jail suicide cases in Texas, it is also likely that the Texas Rangers will investigate.

The United States Constitution, specifically the 14^th Amendment, applies to pre-trial detainees as it relates to provision of reasonable medical care and mental health care. It also provides that jailers must protect a person from his or her suicidal tendencies. If jailers are deliberately indifferent to medical or mental health needs of a Texas pre-trial detainee, and the detainee commits suicide, jailers could be liable to family members of the deceased person as a result.

26-year-old Joshua Lopez passed away in the El Paso County, Texas jail on or about June 4, 2017.  Information provided in this post was obtained from a custodial death report filed by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department with the Attorney General of Texas.

Mr. Lopez was allegedly arrested on or about May 31, 2017.  The death report indicates that Mr. Lopez had been receiving treatment for the medical condition that caused his death, even though his death was allegedly caused by suicide.  The report also indicates that Mr. Lopez had made suicidal statements.  Thus, from the death report itself, it is difficult to determine the extent to which Mr. Lopez had voiced an intent to commit suicide and/or the extent to which he had been provided treatment for any such mental health issues.

The custodial death report contains a lengthy description of what officers found when they found Mr. Lopez.  Mr. Lopez had allegedly hung a towel in a manner such that no one could look directly into his cell.  Officers found Mr. Lopez hanging in his cell after fully opening the door and gaining access.

As with every other post on this site, we make no allegation as to whether anyone acted inappropriately.  However, if an inmate is on suicide watch, there should be continuous monitoring of the inmate.  An inmate should not be allowed to have in his or her cell items with which he can hurt himself or herself, and he or she should not be allowed to block the view of jail personnel of the cell in which the inmate is housed.