Estate of Donald Nelson v. County of Alameda

I. BACKGROUND

1 A. Factual Background 2 On May 1, 2020, Oakland Police Department officers arrested Nelson for an 3 unspecified offense. See FAC ¶ 27. Nelson was wearing a hospital gown at the time of 4 his arrest. Id. ¶ 28. The officers transported Nelson to Santa Rita Jail for booking. Id. ¶ 5 27. 6 At Santa Rita Jail, Deputy Egan and Deputy Does 1–10 allegedly performed an 7 “insufficient classification evaluation” of Nelson during the intake process. Id. ¶ 29. 8 While the deputies allegedly knew that Nelson “suffered from mental illness and had 9 previously been assigned to mental health housing,” they failed to assign him to mental 10 health housing in this case. Id. ¶ 30. In addition, the deputies “knew or should have 11 known that Nelson should be placed in segregated housing due to his arrest and conviction 12 record which made him prey and vulnerable to attack by other inmates.” Id. 13 Instead of placing Nelson in “segregated housing,” the deputies put him in a cell 14 with Hayward Harrison Blake IV (“Blake”). Id. They did so even though Blake and 15 Nelson both “had a behavioral health flag,” indicating that they both suffer from mental 16 illness. Id.…