FRESNO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A lawsuit blames the drug-related death of an inmate on Merced County, Calif.
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Dec. 8 in Fresno federal court against Merced County, the Merced County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Vernon Warnke, and the California Forensic Medical Group (Wellpath) over the overdose death of 31-year-old Derek Valentine.
The suit was filed by the estate of Derek Valentine, Araceli Sanchez (Valentine's legal spouse), L.V., C.V., M.V., Ruth Ramirez, and Albert Valentine. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Mark E. Merin and Paul H. Masuhara.
The complaint alleges that Valentine died while in custody at the John Latorraca Correctional Center due to the negligence of the defendants. It accuses them of failing to prevent inmates' access to dangerous drugs, not detecting Valentine's medical needs in time after he ingested dangerous drugs, and inadequately providing necessary medical care when his immediate medical need was discovered.
The suit says Valentine died after ingesting fentanyl.