Richard Quinones was walking his dogs one morning this summer when he spotted a woman in a ditch.
She lay on dirt near some trolley tracks in Lemon Grove, her legs partially submerged in muddy water, Quinones, 69, said in a recent interview. He called a non-emergency line. A sheriff’s SUV arrived a little later. But the vehicle then backed up and drove off without anyone stepping outside.
Quinones dialed the non-emergency line again. Soon after, he got a call directly from somebody at the sheriff’s office. “She’s a transient,” the official said about the woman in the ditch, according to Quinones. “There’s gonna be more, get used to it.”
That alleged exchange is now the subject of two investigations, because within days the woman was dead.
A spokesperson for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that an “administrative investigation” into the incident was underway and the deputy involved had been placed on “administrative assignment.” The department did not identify the deputy and declined to give more details. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones affected,” the office said in a statement.
A member of the woman’s family has also filed a complaint with the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board, or CLERB, an outside body that investigates potential misconduct. Quinones shared his experience with board members earlier this month.
It’s not clear how long the inquiries might take. CLERB investigations alone may last months. Nor is it clear exactly how the woman died. A representative for the Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed they were looking into the death, but those reviews can similarly take half-a-year or more.
Nonetheless, public records as well as photos and videos both bolster much of Quinones’ account and offer a partial window into the final days of the woman, who officials identified as 43-year-old Irma Perez Espinoza.
Quinones said he first spotted Espinoza on Sunday, July 27. She sat on a curb by a bike path wearing a beret, black pants, blouse and sweater. The clothes appeared to be new. Espinoza was fanning her face with a hand and saying, “It’s hot, it’s hot.” Quinones didn’t think she looked distressed, but the woman did not exactly seem OK either.
Quinones said he gave her two water bottles.
Two days later, on the morning of Tuesday, July 29, he spotted her partway down the nearby ditch. Sheriff’s office records show that a call came in at 8:35 a.m. that day asking for a welfare check for a woman “sitting in ditch” who “has not had food or water.” Around 9:04 a.m., the caller again reported that the woman remained “near ditch.”
The records offer few other details, and some sections are redacted.
Law enforcement officers have a few options when they encounter people who may be unwell. Section 5150 of California law says residents can be detained if they’re “a danger to others, or to themselves, or gravely disabled.” A newer law, Senate Bill 43, further expands the definition of “gravely disabled.” Yet officials have said there are gray areas when it comes to determining someone’s health.
Deputies may also call the department’s own homeless outreach team for additional evaluation.
CLERB investigations focus on whether a deputy violated specific policies. The sheriff’s 505-page policy manual does have guidelines for interacting with residents: Deputies are barred, for example, from “unlawfully considering” someone’s “lifestyle” when it comes to “deciding whether enforcement intervention will occur.” However, there do not appear to be entries in the manual specifically about “welfare checks” or homeless people.
Quinones said he didn’t see the woman Tuesday evening. Nor did he notice her the following Wednesday or Thursday while out walking his dogs, a pair of chihuahua mixes named Daisy and Gizmo.
The three were outside again on Friday, Aug. 1, when the dogs’ ears perked up near the ditch, he said. Quinones heard a faint moan coming from the reeds. He got closer.
The woman lay hidden behind a wall of cattails, according to Quinones and a photo he took of her torso. He said she was half-naked and covered in ants, her face almost below the water line.
Sheriff’s records show that an emergency call came in at 7 a.m. that day. “Female is in the ditch in the water,” the log says. The caller “just kept repeating I have to get her out.”
Quinones said he tried to pull the woman from the water, but past back and neck surgeries limited his movement. He settled for holding up her head.
First responders arrived a few minutes later, according to the call logs.
A video taken by Quinones shows deputies and an ambulance crew pulling the woman out of the ditch and setting her on a stretcher. The woman’s left arm is moving, and she seems to grasp toward her neck, which appears to be wrapped in reeds. The crew wipes her skin with cloths. “Right now they’re wiping all the ants off of her,” Quinones murmurs off-screen.
As the team wheels the woman away, a deputy approaches Quinones. “Hello sir,” the deputy says, according to the video. “You saw her there on Tuesday?”
“Well, yeah, in the water!” Quinones exclaims.
He recounts watching a sheriff’s vehicle pull up only to quickly leave, as well as the follow-up call dismissing the woman as a “transient.” “I’m a little upset,” Quinones says, his voice breaking. “‘Transient’ should not be a label.”
“No, yeah, that’s unacceptable,” the deputy in front of him responds. A little later she adds, “It’s going to be documented.”
The woman eventually died, officials said.
Quinones’ account spread throughout Lemon Grove and on social media, and community activists helped organize a press conference near the ditch. “She was a loving person,” Espinoza’s sister, Alana Williams, told reporters. “A caring person.”
A GoFundMe account set up for the family said Espinoza had three children. The spot where she was found is now marked by a memorial decorated with flowers, balloons and a photo of Espinoza’s smiling face. “She wasn’t a transient,” a sign reads, “she was our mother.”
Quinones lives a few feet away, in a trailer overlooking the ditch. He had been living in a small house on the same property but couldn’t afford rent after his daughter moved out. At one point, Quinones thought he might end up sleeping in his Jeep. The landlord, however, allowed him to stay in the trailer, which was donated by a friend.
Quinones recently set up a bench facing the memorial. The metal frame is painted purple. He heard Espinoza liked that color.
Staff writer Kelly Davis contributed to this report.