On Feb. 22, 2015, plaintiff Margarita Perez, 27, attempted to commit suicide while she was in custody at the Pasadena city jail. She had tied one end of a bedsheet around her neck and the other end to a second-story railing within the jail. She remained hanging for approximately 25 minutes until officers at the jail intervened. As a result of the lack of oxygen to Perez’s head, she sustained a brain injury. Perez’s mother, Aurora Sanchez, sued the operator of the jail, the city of Pasadena, and Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez. The lawsuit alleged that Phillip Sanchez and the city were negligent in the training of the officers at the jail and that the defendants’ actions were in violation of Perez’s constitutional rights. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the officers at the jail failed to appropriately monitor Perez, as surveillance video showed Perez attempting to measure her neck with the bedsheet. Counsel also contended that the deputies who booked Perez failed to conduct a meaningful assessment of her mental health condition and that the officers in the jail failed to get Perez mental health treatment. Counsel further contended that the officers failed to promptly respond to the emergency and get Perez aid. Plaintiff’s counsel asserted that, under California Government Code § 845.6, the defendants had a duty to summon immediate medical care whenever they know or have reason to know that an inmate is in need of immediate medical care, but that the defendants breached that duty of care. Defense counsel denied the plaintiffs’ allegations in their entirety, and asserted that Perez caused her own by attempting suicide., Perez sustained extensive brain damage as a result of being deprived oxygen to the brain for 21 minutes. She was taken to a hospital, where she was determined to be suffering from severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. As a result, Perez was left blind and paralyzed, as she suffered severe nerve damage throughout her body, which caused her wrists and ankles to become permanently bent. Perez now requires 24-hour care from her family in order to feed and survive.