Copyright The Mercury News
BRENTWOOD — A 72-year-old woman went unconscious in the back of a police car and later died, and Brentwood police — who never told the public about the Sept. 26 incident — are already facing legal blowback from her family. Yolanda Ramirez, a Brentwood native who retired from a 30-year career at Contra Costa Health Services, was arrested on suspicion of a misdemeanor for allegedly yelling at a family member’s home. While in the back of a patrol car outside the Broderick Drive home, Ramirez apparently suffered what turned out to be a brain bleed and went unconscious. Paramedics rushed her to a hospital where she remained on life support until her Oct. 3 death, according to a legal claim — a precursor to a lawsuit — filed by Ramirez’s family. The Brentwood Police Department never publicly acknowledged Ramirez’s death or disclosed details to the public, an abnormality in Contra Costa, where all law-enforcement deaths are subject to third-party investigations as a matter of policy. Brentwood police Chief Walter O’Grodnick did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing Ramirez’s relatives said the family made repeated attempts to seek answers from the Brentwood Police Department. Having no success, they launched their own probe, sending private investigators who interviewed eyewitnesses, the attorney said. The end result, as detailed in the legal claim, says an officer forced Ramirez to her knees “as she cried in pain,” knocked her head into the door of the patrol car and had a second officer help him “drag” her into the vehicle, where she remained, handcuffed, for 10 minutes before anyone noticed she was in medical distress. After a gaggle of officers peered into the patrol car window, they called for medical assistance, and carried her into an ambulance, the claim alleges. “At this point she was covered in vomit and appeared to be unconscious,” the claim says, blaming her brain bleed and death on “abuse” by the police. The claim later adds that, “At least six third party witnesses observed the incident and were outraged by the brutality they witnessed against a visibly elderly woman.” Ramirez’s obituary says she’ll be remembered “for her unconditional love for family and friends, caring nature toward others like donating blood to the Red Cross, and her sense of humor especially her contagious laugh.” “She always had a contagious laugh and found humor recollecting embarrassing moments in her life, a strong devotion to babysitting her grandchildren and unwavering support for her family and touched countless lives with her warmth and kindness,” the obituary says. The legal claim says that police were called for “unknown reasons” after she drove to pick up her brother for a doctor’s appointment and after he didn’t answer the door on the 100 block of Broderick Drive in Brentwood she yelled through a window of the home. The claim says Ramirez’s family was later given a slip saying she was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, but a law enforcement source with firsthand knowledge said the DA’s office was told by police she was arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace. The same source said prosecutors were told by officers that Ramirez died of a stroke. The claim says a “male officer,” who is “believed to be” Brentwood police union president Aaron Peachman, “falsely accused” Ramirez of resisting arrest forced her to her knees while she was handcuffed, then told her to stand. It says she suffered “deep cuts” to her wrists and that after she was taken away by ambulance, her car was impounded “so that her husband, who was on his way and also one of the registered owners, could not take possession of the family car.” A message sent to the police union on Tuesday was not immediately returned. Melissa Nold, the Vallejo-based lawyer who filed the claim, called it “egregious” that the department refused to give Ramirez’s family more information. “I should not have to hire private investigators just to get the family a basic understanding of what happened to Mrs. Ramirez,” Nold said in a written statement. “She deserved to be treated with dignity, respect and care and the department profoundly failed her in all of those aspects.”
