Restraint Asphyxia Attorneys Win Settlement + Reforms for Death of Mentally Ill Man

Mendocino County, the City of Willits, and California Forensic Medical Group (CFMG) agreed make wide-ranging reforms and pay $5,000,000 to Steven Neuroth’s brother after his death in the Mendocino County Jail on June 4, 2011.  The callousness shown by Willits officers, the jail nurse, and jail staff leading up to Neuroth’s death has sparked outrage by those who have seen the jail video of Steven’s last minutes.  Ultimately, while Steven was in psychiatric crisis, frightened and paranoid from officers’ torment, as the jail nurse watched, jail deputies beat and asphyxiated him, while Steven pleaded with them not to kill him.  Steven’s brother, James Neuroth, hired Haddad & Sherwin LLP to bring this case so that nothing like this would happen again in that jail. 

Restraint Asphyxia Attorneys Win $5 Million Settlement

And because of this case, Mendocino County has changed its jail policies and is training all of its deputies and staff about how to safely handle mentally ill people in crisis and about the dangers of prone restraint.  The City of Willits is training all of its officers on crisis intervention, and its officers must now wear body cameras.  CFMG no longer handles inmate medical care at that jail.