Early last year, Brandon Yates was arrested on suspicion of burglary and booked into San Diego’s Central Jail. He had been found asleep in someone’s backyard shed.
Yates, who was 24 with a long history of mental illness, was dead within 24 hours.
He was beaten and tortured by his cellmate — even though Yates repeatedly pressed the panic button inside his cell, and even though other men in the jail yelled that he was in trouble, a new lawsuit against San Diego County and Sheriff Kelly Martinez alleges.
“The control tower deputies either ignored the desperate calls or put the intercom on ‘bypass,’ meaning they turned the sound off from Brandon’s cell,” the suit says. “No one came as Brandon was being tortured, stripped naked, bound, sexually assaulted and murdered.”
Yates should never have been placed into the fourth-floor cell with Alvin Ruis, who is now charged with murder, the lawsuit says.
Ruis, who had been arrested by Chula Vista police in December 2023 after being accused of assaulting his wife and children, also had a history of mental illness and had repeatedly threatened other people in jail, including deputies, the lawsuit adds.
Due to violent behavior, Ruis was classified as “keep separate” — meaning he was not to be placed in a cell with another person, the complaint adds.
The allegations in the lawsuit filed by Yates’ parents, Dan Yates and Andrea Carrier, are the latest in a series of wrongful-death, misconduct and negligence lawsuits confronting San Diego County and its sheriff.