The parents of a 25-year-old Mission man who died in late 2020 after suffering drug and alcohol withdrawals in county jail have filed a federal lawsuit.
An attorney for Linda Villarreal and Ramon Moya, the parents of Anthony Lee Villarreal, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Monday against Hidalgo County and the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office.
Anthony died on Oct. 10, 2020, at Edinburg Regional Hospital.
A custodial death report filed by the sheriff’s office says his manner of death was natural and states that the medical cause of death was the “combined effects of probable benzodiazepine and ethanol withdrawal and a cardiomyopathy with coronary atherosclerosis.”
His parents allege that their son’s death was preventable and that jailers should have known he would experience withdrawals, and that they failed to timely obtain medical help for the man.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Anthony on Oct. 6, 2020, on warrants for violating his probation on a conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
During routine screening at booking, jailers became aware that Anthony was a daily user with a long, well-documented history of alcohol and benzodiazepines use, according to the lawsuit.
That statement conflicts with a news release from the sheriff’s office that said deputies became aware after his death that he had a history of undiagnosed seizures and drug abuse.
The petition says that within hours of Anthony being placed in a cell, he began exhibiting symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal, including headaches, tremors, agitation, sweating, shakiness and restlessness.
During the next two days, his physical condition deteriorated and he had an irregular heartbeat, seizures and could not hold down liquid or food, according to the lawsuit.
The custodial death report, however, says Anthony suffered his first seizure on Oct. 10 at 1:25 a.m. and was transferred to the jail’s infirmary — another conflict between this report and the allegations levied in the lawsuit.
The parents allege that deputies were aware Anthony was suffering seizures by either Oct. 7 or Oct. 8, 2020, and that they did little or nothing to help.
The lawsuit says that on either Oct. 9 or Oct. 10, 2020, jailers forced Anthony into a chair and tied him down, which supposedly intended to reduce the risk that he would suffer harm from striking objects whenever his body would jerk violently during a seizure.
“Stated more bluntly, agents intended to, and did, keep Decedent restrained and seated while in the Hidalgo County Detention Center while he experienced life-threatening seizures until the seizures stopped,” the lawsuit stated.
The custodial death report says he was placed in the restraining chair on Oct. 10, 2020, and described him as agitated, aggressive and disoriented.
The petition says that Anthony continued suffering seizures while strapped to the chair until he became unresponsive while the custodial death report notes two seizures.
“When time passed and he remained unresponsive, agents called 911, summoned an ambulance and had Anthony Lee Villarreal transported to the hospital,” the lawsuit stated.
The custodial death report says he was transported to the hospital at 2:12 a.m. that day and about an hour later, at 3:20 a.m., the lawsuit says hospital personnel called the sheriff’s office to report that Anthony arrived at the emergency room in cardiac arrest and was placed on life support in the intensive care unit.
Anthony died at 7:40 a.m.
“Defendants knew, or reasonably should have known, that Decedent required emergency medical intervention and hospitalization many, many hours or days before October 10, 2020, when Defendants finally dialed 911 and called for an ambulance to transport Decedent to the hospital where Decedent arrived in cardiac arrest and died shortly afterward,” the lawsuit stated.
That document alleges that jailers should have immediately called an ambulance for Anthony at the first observation of his violent seizures but instead “multiple jailers opted for waiting, watching, or strapping him down to a chair and providing him absolutely no medical care for many hours while his condition worsened.”
As of Wednesday, the county had not yet responded to the lawsuit. An initial hearing is scheduled for March.
Deputies had arrested Anthony on warrants for violating his probation on a conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing a man in the stomach on Sept. 28, 2014.
Probation officials had alleged that he failed to pay numerous fees associated with his community supervision, that he did not complete 240 hours of community service and that he failed to complete an anger management course, court records indicate.
