{"id":503298,"date":"2026-01-09T08:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503298\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:17:12","slug":"sdso-facing-lawsuit-over-woman-found-in-lemon-grove-ditch-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503298\/","title":{"rendered":"SDSO facing lawsuit over woman found in Lemon Grove ditch \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

The embattled San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Department is facing another lawsuit over its policy and procedures that allegedly led to a woman\u2019s death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Irma Espinoza, 43, died after three days lying in a water-filled ditch. A welfare check was called 72 hours prior to that but took no action.<\/p>\n

Last July, while walking his dogs, Richard Quinones saw Espinoza sitting by a drainage ditch along Main Street at Mount Vernon in Lemon Grove. He called for help, but, according to Quinones, the responding sheriff\u2019s deputy came and went without ever leaving her car.<\/p>\n

Three days later, he found Espinoza in the same place and was near death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater was up to here, so she was barely breathing. Everything else was all submerged,\u201d Quinones said.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit filed on Dec. 30, Espinoza was covered in ants, had several bruises on her body and was naked below the waist. Sheriff\u2019s deputies and EMTs responded and then freed her from the ditch.<\/p>\n

She suffered cardiac arrest, and CPR was performed. Espinoza was revived and then transferred to Sharp Grossmont Hospital, where she later died. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s department is investigating one of it\u2019s own deputies, for her response to a welfare check on a woman found in a Lemon Grove ditch. NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a loving person. She was a caring person,\u201d Espinoza\u2019s daughter Alana Williams said.<\/p>\n

Family members filed a complaint through the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board. NBC 7 was told the deputy involved was in administrative duties and being investigated.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, the sheriff\u2019s department isn\u2019t being sued for failing to act in this case because that\u2019s up to the deputy\u2019s prerogative. The department is being sued for allegedly intimidating or discouraging the reporting person, and, as a result, Espinoza ended up dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have here is a callousness. Troubling to say the very, very least,” said attorney Gene Iredale, who represents the family.<\/p>\n

When Quinones called a second time for a welfare check soon after the initial call, the response wasn\u2019t what he expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was scolded by the sheriff\u2019s deputy who told him, ‘Get used to it. There are a lot of homeless people. Just get used to it. Stop bothering us. Don\u2019t call anymore,’ or words to that affect,\u201d Iredale said.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges: \u201cMr. Quinones felt intimidated by the call and believed he would get in trouble if he called for help again, creating a danger and causing Ms. Espinoza to suffer needlessly for days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe lied about the true facts in order to prevent this woman from getting help,\u201d Iredale said.<\/p>\n

A sheriff\u2019s department spokesperson says the county can\u2019t comment on pending court cases.<\/p>\n

Family members feel betrayed by a system they expected was watching out for Espinoza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want justice for her. I still want answers\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

The Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board is also investigating this complaint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The embattled San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Department is facing another lawsuit over its policy and procedures that allegedly…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":503299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,24349,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-503298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-lemon-grove","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115864157844052796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}