Lost in Sacramento jail? Lawsuit alleges DUI suspect held 27 days without charges
Typically, if you get arrested on a driving under the influence charge you can expect a night in jail before you are cut loose and told to come to court later for your initial appearance.
Taylor Brophy’s story is different. He says he spent nearly a month in Sacramento County’s jails before being released without any charges being filed, and that he never got a chance to go to court.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court alleging false imprisonment and civil rights violations, Brophy claims he was “deprived of liberty without due process of law,” essentially lost in the system inside the Sacramento County Main Jail and Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center for 27 days last spring.
Brophy could not be reached for comment Monday, and his attorney did not respond to a message from The Sacramento Bee.
But his lawsuit describes an ordeal that began March 21, 2019, when Brophy was arrested on a DUI charge by a California State Parks officer.
Brophy initially was booked into the Main Jail downtown on DUI charges.
“Curiously, after testing, plaintiff was advised at the Sacramento Main Jail that his blood alcohol level did not exceed the respective legal limits for operating a motor vehicle,” the lawsuit says.
Brophy, 28, was held in the jail for five days, then transferred to RCCC, “where he remained incarcerated for an additional 22 days,” according to his lawsuit.
“At no time during plaintiff’s incarceration was plaintiff ever brought before a judge or provided any type of procedural due process, including, but not limited to, arraignment, bail hearing, or probation revocation hearing,” the suit says. “Moreover, during his incarceration, plaintiff was advised by another inmate that plaintiff’s case had been called by a judge while that inmate was present in Sacramento Superior Court on another matter.”
Finally, on April 16, staff at RCCC told Brophy he was free to go, although the suit says he was “never provided any reason or explanation for his extended incarceration” and was never charged by the District Attorney’s office in connection with the arrest.
Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones’ office, which runs both jails, typically does not comment on pending litigation and declined to discuss Brophy’s claims. But sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding wrote in an email that “it does appear additional charges were at play related to Mr. Brophy’s custody time, not just DUI.”
At the time of his arrest, Brophy was on informal probation in an unrelated misdemeanor hit and run case from 2018, court records show, although there is no indication in the lawsuit that the prior case resulted in his unwelcome stay in custody.
Instead, the lawsuit says “there was an unnecessary delay” in Brophy’s release that resulted in “financial loss, extreme emotional distress, mental anguish, outrage, frustration, sever anxiety, damage to his reputation, embarrassment and the disruption of his personal life.”
His suit is seeking general and special damages and attorney’s fees.
