In a California county where the sheriff is also the coroner, families seek change

[sl8]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/06/riverside-california-sheriff-chad-bianco-coroner
(more links at source)

In a California county where the sheriff is also the coroner, families seek change

Families of people who died in one of Riverside county’s jails say they lack confidence in the system investigating their loved ones deaths

Madison Aument (KVCR) and Mike Kessler (The California Newsroom)
Thu 6 Jun 2024 07.00 EDT

[...]

Their fight comes amid a headline-making spike in jail deaths in this sprawling county east of Los Angeles. In 2022, at least 19 people died while held in Riverside county detention facilities, according to California department of justice data. That’s a higher rate of jail deaths than in LA county that year, which had three times as many inmates. Last year, at least 14 people died in the Riverside county detention centers.

But the high number of deaths isn’t the only reason behind the families’ quest. In Riverside county, as in 48 of California’s 58 counties, the coroner’s office is run by the sheriff’s department – the same agency that runs the jails.

That structure, legal experts say, presents at least the perception of a conflict of interest when someone dies in jail, in police custody, or following police use of force.

Many families of people who have died in Riverside county jails agree. That’s because Chad Bianco – the Riverside county sheriff and a rabble-rouser who was once affiliated with the Oath Keepers and recently endorsed Trump by saying “I think it’s time to put a felon in the White House” – has deflected responsibility for the deaths on his watch. When the California attorney general in 2023 announced an investigation into Bianco’s department, he dismissed it as a political maneuver by his detractors in Sacramento. “Every single one of these inmate deaths was out of anyone’s control,” Bianco told Riverside’s Press-Enterprise. “The fact of the matter is that they just happened to be in our custody.”

[...]

[2naSalit]

1. Wow...

Riverside is a big-ass county. Surely there is one other person who is qualified for one of those jobs and could be in that position. In California no less. Shit, the little county I live in has two different people in those two positions.

[quaint]

2. I agree the positions should be separate, but for hospice patients and their families it makes things harder.

Last edited Thu Jun 6, 2024, 01:26 PM - Edit history (1)

When my mother-in-law passed at home in Orange County, it was easy. Her doctor told us that when it happened to tell sheriff-coroner he would sign the death certificate. We called the coroner, he took the information by phone, and told us to call the mortuary.

When my mother passed at home in Los Angeles county, we called 911, they sent paramedics who said (not "pronounced " ) she was dead, which we knew, they called the coroner and we waited three hours for someone to be free to come and pronounce her dead. It was very hard on my father.

That is the good reason for the combined offices but the bad reasons override it.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. in San Diego, when a relative passed at home. The cops came with paramedics, asked questions, looked at her medicines

basically made sure she hadn't been murdered by relatives.

[quaint]

5. Very reasonable.

[Martin68]

3. The fix is in...