- Category: Safety Standard not met
- Tag(s): Death
- State: CA
What the Record Shows
Irma Perez Espinoza, 43, was found sitting in a drainage ditch in Lemon Grove on July 27, 2025, after reportedly spending days there without food or water. A neighbor contacted the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check and told the dispatcher that Espinoza had been sitting in the ditch for days. According to the county’s Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) investigation, the responding deputy did not activate her body-worn camera or get out of her vehicle. CLERB found that the deputy failed to take appropriate action on a condition deserving police attention.
The neighbor contacted authorities again after finding Espinoza still in the ditch three days later, partially submerged in water and barely alive. She was hospitalized and died on August 3, 2025. The Medical Examiner determined her death was accidental, attributing it to complications of chronic alcohol use, with environmental exposure listed as a contributing factor. A subsequent federal lawsuit alleges that the deputy reported Espinoza had left the area and discouraged the neighbor from continuing to seek assistance. In May 2026, a federal judge allowed most of the family’s claims against the deputy and supervisors to proceed.
Sources:
San Diego County CLERB, June 4, 2026: CLERB Regular Meeting Agenda, June 4, 2026
Patch San Diego, May 2026: Judge Declines to Dismiss Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Woman Found in Ditch
NBC 7 San Diego, Jan. 2026: SDSO Lawsuit: Woman Found in Lemon Grove Ditch
ABC 10News, Sept. 2025: Family of Woman Found in Lemon Grove Ditch Demands Answers From County Sheriff’s Office
Each story is shared to highlight where systems failed to intervene or provide treatment. The intent is accountability and reform, not to portray people with Severe Mental Illness as dangerous or to reinforce stigma.
public officials & government bodies Invited to Respond
- Gov. Gavin Newsom — Governor of California
- Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins — Assemblymember
- Senator Dr Akilah Weber Pierson — State legislator
- Sheriff Kelly Martinez — San Diego County Sheriff’s Office
- Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe — District 4 (includes Lemon Grove), San Diego County Board of Supervisors
- Mayor Alysson Snow & the Lemon Grove City Council
Please add context, a correction, or an update by commenting below.
The Sandy Pruett Project is grateful to those willing to engage in improving these desperate situations.
Anosognosia affects 50-90% of psychotic illnesses*
[lack of insight – the brain disorder makes the person incapable of discerning that they are mentally ill. This is not denial]