Probe opens into inmate’s wounding

The Orange County district attorney’s office has opened an investigation into a violent struggle between sheriff’s deputies and an inmate who sustained life-threatening injuries, officials said Tuesday. The action is the latest setback to the department as it struggles to recover from a series of allegations involving the treatment of inmates.

Jason Gomez was on life support at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, a week after deputies used Taser stun weapons to subdue him at the Intake Release Center.

The deputies confronted Gomez, 35, who has a lengthy criminal record, March 25 after he allegedly injured a nurse by grabbing her arm as she tried to pass medication through an opening into his cell.

Deputies entered Gomez’s cell and a scuffle ensued. The inmate spat at deputies and bit one of them on the finger before they used the stun weapons to subdue him, said sources familiar with the incident who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss it. Gomez stopped breathing and was resuscitated by paramedics. If he survives, sources said, he will probably remain in a permanent vegetative state.

Sheriff’s officials referred questions about the incident to Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Kang Schroeder, who declined an interview request.

Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson sent a memo to the Board of Supervisors this week describing the incident and the involvement of the district attorney but refused to discuss the matter with The Times and would not release the memo.

Gomez’s family spent Tuesday at the hospital and also contacted a Tustin attorney, Edward Flores. “The family wants to get to the truth of the matter and determine what happened,” Flores said.

Sheriff’s officials did not inform the district attorney’s office about the confrontation with Gomez until days later, according to sources familiar with the case. The department has been widely criticized for failing to involve the district attorney’s office after a 2006 altercation in which inmate John Chamberlain was killed by fellow inmates at Theo Lacy jail in Orange. County policy calls for the district attorney to investigate all inmate slayings.

The recent incident comes five months after the death of another inmate, Michael Patrick Lass, after deputies used a Taser stun weapon to subdue him. Stun weapons are used by authorities throughout the country to control combative suspects. The weapons fire darts that transmit painful electric current.

The nurse’s injury in the most recent incident comes at a time when the union representing jail medical workers has been complaining about understaffing, poor training and other issues posing potential risks.

“We’ve had ongoing concerns about the safety of the nurses at the jail,” said Nick Berardino, general manager of the Orange County Employees Assn., which represents about 85 nurses working in the Orange County jails. “We’ve made some improvements, but the training [and] the staffing are both areas that need continual work.”

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com

christine.hanley@latimes.com