Family of Sacramento man who died in downtown jail three days after arriving sues county
The family of a man who died in the Sacramento County Main Jail has sued the county claiming insufficient medical care resulted in the death — just three months after he arrived there.
Timothy Noble, 34, died in July 2021, after deputies found him unconscious in bed in his cell in the downtown jail.
Noble’s mother Bonnie Hersey and wife Keyona Anderson Noble last week filed the lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court, claiming wrongful death, civil rights violations, and medical malpractice. The lawsuit names the county, its Sheriff’s office, its health department, and five county employees and contractors as defendants.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment because it does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said. Spokespeople for the county and its health department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
When Noble was booked into the jail on July 21, 2021, county nurses noted Noble had recently been in a hospital emergency room from cellulitis, a serious skin infection, and that he had used heroin in the last 24 hours, the lawsuit alleged. He had a high blood pressure of 144/99.
He was placed in regular housing, and the next day he received a detox evaluation, where he tested positive for opiates, the lawsuit alleges. They prescribed him medication for diarrhea, nausea and high blood pressure.
A deputy found Noble unresponsive in his bunk bed at 4:54 a.m. on July 24, and performed CPR, the lawsuit states. He was declared dead at 5:25 a.m. at the jail, the death report states.
The cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease listed as a significant condition, according to the coroner report. The manner of death was determined to be natural.
“(The nurses) showed deliberate indifference, or at the very least gross negligence, to Noble’s serious medical condition,” the lawsuit states. “(They) were all aware of his cellulitis and prior heroin use. Yet despite the outward manifestations of physical symptoms, employees ... failed to diagnose and treat, and further delayed treatment and failed to follow up with Noble based on his medical history.”
Noble was born and raised in Sacramento, his sister told The Sacramento Bee at the time. He worked at AutoZone and as a meat cutter at Sam’s Club, and loved his nephews, she said.
