Attorneys clashed over whether two security guards and an EMT at Loma Linda University Medical Center assaulted patient Jesse Simpson in 2018 or lawfully detained him for trespassing; the lawsuit seeks damages for alleged assault, civil rights violations, and negligence.
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Attorneys clashed over whether two security guards and an EMT at Loma Linda University Medical Center assaulted patient Jesse Simpson in 2018 or lawfully detained him for trespassing; the lawsuit seeks damages for alleged assault, civil rights violations, and negligence.
This story was originally published by Inland Empire Law Weekly. Sign up for their newsletters.
Attorneys gave opening arguments Sept. 23 in an assault case brought by a patient of Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). Jesse Simpson alleges he was assaulted and battered by two LLUMC security guards on Oct. 24, 2018, while attempting to get pain pills from the pharmacy. The alleged assault caused him to have two surgeries, his attorney, Daniel Balaban, said.
“They take him down in an utterly violent way,” said Balaban.
Defendants’ attorney Kenneth Pedroza said the guards were placing Simpson under a citizen’s arrest, to prevent him from harassing a hospital employee.
Video shown during opening arguments by both parties showed two guards, Arthur Alvarez and Michael Leon, grabbing Simpson by each arm. Simpson fell forward, into a wall. The guards dragged him to the ground, where they held him down. A third defendant, emergency medical technician Jordan Leon, also held Simpson down. Simpson was wearing a neck brace.
Balaban said that the video showed Alvarez keeping Simpson in a headlock throughout the struggle. Pedroza said the video did not show the guard maintained a headlock the entire time.
Another point of contention is whether Simpson was knocked out by the struggle. Balaban said he was unconscious for 13 minutes. Pedroza said Simpson was awake, opening his eyes and talking.
Either way, he was handcuffed, face down, on the ground. One of the guards kneed on Simpson’s back for four minutes, Balaban said. The guards picked him up and put him in a wheelchair, until he fell out of it.
Both attorneys agreed that Simpson underwent neck surgery six weeks before the incident, and that a LLUMC doctor authorized five norcos to deal with his pain. He had not picked up the pills by the time of the contact. Following the doctor’s order, he met with a hospital social worker. She denied him benefits, Balaban said. According to Pedroza, she denied him a free ride out of the hospital because he had already been issued a bus pass, and she denied him housing services because his past drug use disqualified him.
“All Mr. Simpson wanted to do that day was get his medication,” said Balaban.
Not so—he had denied multiple offers by the guards to escort him to the pharmacy, Pedroza said.
“Mr. Simpson continues to demand to confront the social worker,” Pedroza said. After talking with Simpson for 18 minutes, the guards said he was trespassing.
Pedroza alleged Simpson threatened the guards multiple times, saying, “I don’t give a f— and you guys better not touch me or you’ll be sorry,” “You better get the f— out of my way because I am not leaving,” and “You’re gonna take me to jail for more than just trespassing.”
Simpson had brought his bag of belongings and a golf club—used as a walking stick—to the hospital. He dropped them before the guards touched him. Balaban alleged that he was then unarmed. Pedroza said the guards believed he was ready to fight.
The resulting tussle was a result of Simpson resisting the citizen’s arrest for trespassing, Pedroza said. When Simpson attempted to break loose, he fell forward, into the wall, then all three of them tripped to the ground, he said.
“He never would have gone to the ground if he was listening and cooperating,” Pedroza said.
According to Pedroza, Simpson was acting erratically prior to the confrontation, both on the day of the fight and during visits to crisis clinics. Three days prior to the altercation, he visited the Windsor Center crisis stabilization unit. He reported hearing hallucinations and using methamphetamines, Pedroza said.
Balaban said Simpson was acting fine the day of the assault, and that the security guards had been following him throughout his visit to the hospital.
“They should have never touched him to begin with,” said Balaban.
The complaint accuses the guards and the EMT of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distresses, false imprisonment, violation of California’s Ralph Civil Rights Act, and three types of negligence.
The guards were employees of Allied Universal Security Services.
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