Family sues after inmate with gallon-a-day liquor habit died in Sacramento jail

The family of a 37-year-old man who died after being booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail last year following a Super Bowl party altercation are suing, alleging jail staff ignored his massive daily liquor consumption and allowed him to die from complications of alcohol withdrawal.

The suit, filed Thursday in federal court in Sacramento, says Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office officials neglected to provide alcohol withdrawal treatment for 37-year-old Anthony Galley despite the fact that they knew he drank a gallon of liquor daily and that he suffered a seizure and died within two days of being booked.

“Mr. Galley understood the implications of his alcohol dependence and the importance of informing jail medical staff of it,” according to the lawsuit, filed by Oakland attorney Michael Haddad on behalf of Galley’s 14-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

The lawsuit says that “due his alcohol dependence, Mr. Galley would take shots of vodka in four-hour intervals, including while at work, to ensure that he would not experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.”

“Mr. Galley had a history of being detained in Sacramento County jail many times and had repeatedly informed the jail health care staff of his alcohol and drug dependence and his history of serious withdrawal symptoms, including that he would have seizures if he stopped using alcohol,” the lawsuit says. “During several previous jail detentions, Mr. Galley was placed on necessary detoxification and withdrawal protocols.”

The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on pending litigation, but the inmate death appears to mirror one detailed in a report filed last October in federal court recounting how an unnamed inmate with a massive daily alcohol intake was booked into jail and died 30 hours later from a seizure.

That report, filed as part of a federal consent decree, found “cluttered, dirty, and in many cases filthy” conditions in medical treatment areas, as well as chronic shortages of nurses and doctors.

The lawsuit filed Thursday says Galley was arrested Feb. 13, 2022, following an incident at a Super Bowl party during which someone wanted to fight with him.

“As Mr. Galley attempted to leave in his car, an individual clung to one of the side door mirrors while the car was moving, then fell, at which point his leg was allegedly injured,” the suit says. “On information and belief, police nearby witnessed the incident and arrested Mr. Galley, who had already pulled over to the side of the road before police intervened.”

Once at the jail, Galley told an intake nurse that he had a history of alcohol abuse that included drinking a gallon a day for the past two years and that he had consumed alcohol that day, the suit says. He also reported that he had a history of alcohol withdrawal, the suit says.

During past detentions in the jail, Galley had been placed on alcohol withdrawal and detoxification treatment, and should have been last February and monitored regularly, the suit says.

Instead, the jail “failed to place Mr. Galley on any alcohol detoxification protocols and provide him with the necessary care he required,” the suit says, and “he was never further monitored or assessed for signs of alcohol withdrawal while he awaited to be booked into jail.”

Galley had a seizure on Feb. 15, 2022, while lying on a table in the jail’s “own recognizance tank,” and other inmates tried to report “that something was seriously wrong with Mr. Galley,” the suit says.

Despite those efforts, “jail staff ignored their pleas for help, until several inmates finally began banging on the OR tank windows and screaming for help,” the suit says.

“At that point, multiple deputies responded to the OR tank, the suit says, adding that “as many as 30 minutes elapsed between the commencing of Mr. Galley’s seizure and arrival of responding deputies.”

Galley later was pronounced dead at Sutter Medical Center, the suit says.

The suit, which names former Sheriff Scott Jones, jail commander Anthony Paonessa, jail medical director Veer Babu and others, also says the Sheriff’s Office has withheld medical records and “actively concealed facts” regarding Galley’s death.

This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 12:10 PM.