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Witness of Holland’s death files claim against SLO County

August 14, 2017

Carty (Andrew’s father) and Andrew Holland

In another claim against the San Luis Obispo County Jail, a woman repeats allegations that jail staffed laughed and joked after a mentally ill man died on the concrete floor of a jail cell. [Cal Coast News]

Days before the county announced a $5 million settlement to the family of Andrew Holland, a man who died a torturous death in the county jail, Sherry Roy, 52, filed a claim against the county. Roy alleges guards locked her in a jail cell and ordered her to clean up the blood, urine and feces in the cell where Holland had been strapped naked in a restraint chair for more than 46 hours. During that time, guards did not release Holland to use the restroom.

After almost two full days in the restraint chair, guards turned the restraint chair over and dumped Holland on the ground before they moved Holland to a neighboring cell.

Read entire story at Cal Coast Times.


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This is a very good example why SLO County needs to have a criminal Grand Jury.


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A grand jury might help a little, but the problem is much bigger.


With our “prevention” mentality and our dog-like loyalty to the police and the notion that they keep us safe, we have created a situation that cannot be easily fixed.


Police are above the law. Police regularly commit crime and break all kinds of laws in order to do their jobs….each and every day. What do I mean by this statement?


If you or I set up a sting operation designed to entrap a “john” or to entrap a person selling or buying an illegal drug we’d go to jail for pimping, prostitution, possession for sale of narcotics, etc. When police do it, they are commended.


If we lie to police, it’s a felony. On the other hand they are taught how to lie to us in order to get us to incriminate ourselves


Cops break speed limits all day, every day. Not us.

Cops carry weapons and brandish them….it’s a felony if we do.

Cops wear body armor…illegal for us.

Cops can forcibly detain anyone they wish. Not us.

Cops can use deadly force if they feel nervous of threatened. Not us.

Cops drive drunk and get away with it.

Cops have a very high incidence of domestic violence, but a very low incidence of prosecution for it.

Cops can break any and all traffic laws without recourse.

I could go on and on and on…..


This situation creates a class of people (cops) who have special rights and privileges and enjoy general immunity for crimes they commit in the line of duty. They don’t just feel superior to us….THEY ARE LEGALLY SUPERIOR. Their lives are more important than our lives. If we kill them, we go to prison for a long, long time. If they kill us, they are more often than not given a paid vacation.


If a local physician “treated” Mr. Holland using a restraint chair, said physician would be in jail awaiting trial for murder, torture, medical malpractice, gross negligence and other crimes.


But since it was cops who were taking care of Mr. Holland, no charges will be filed, no one will lose their job and nothing will result. Ho hum…..it wasn’t a cop who was killed…..just a person. No big deal.


What kind of people want to mind everyone’s business, enjoy the use of force against others, break laws with impunity and make the serfs pay their salaries and generous pensions and benefits?


Sociopaths and psychopaths. That’s who. Law Enforcement culture literally teaches abuse of power and emphatically teaches that officer’s lives are more important than any other life. That’s why “officer safety” is number one in every department. Their lives trump ours.


A grand jury might tell us someone did something wrong….but it won’t do anything to alter the nature of police work in America. That’s going to take much, much more and probably will not happen.


You’re a serf. They are nobles. No group of serfs is going to tell a group of nobles what to do. That’s not how this works.


The fact of the matter is that cops enforce laws on us and these laws do not apply to cops. They are above the law.


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Doct if you had been reading publications you would have seen where I got my info.more than one report said county mental health said they bid nor have room for him. I am not saying all LEO are angels no one is. There has been more than one complaint about county mental health as well as CPS. But these outrageous settlements have to stop.


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C.D.


I am fully aware that Mental Health turned him away.


You seem to be wanting to implicate them in Holland’s death. There are only two ways this could be true:


1. Mental Health knew that Holland would to tortured and murdered if they refused to admit him and they made the decision to let the cops kill him.


2. Mental Health snuck into the jail and killed him.


Both are absurd. I reject both ideas.


If the cops had just put Holland in a padded cell by himself, he’d still be alive. Mental Health did not torture him in the chair. The cops at the jail did that.


Do we need more space at Mental Health? Yes, we do. But that doesn’t make them murderers.


As for settlements: If they killed your son what would you “settle” for?


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I’m still waiting for some community leader, politician, or REAL news reporter to spend a weekend there and give us a full report.


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Just call the police and ask them for help. When they come to enforce laws against you, tell them you’re off your meds and need help. Then you can experience the whole thing, just like Andrew Holland.


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Make sure you are clear as to which laws you should tell the police you want enforced, some laws they don’t enforce and of course we all know some laws are just for us serfs and not meant for the chosen ones.


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Why don’t you put the blame Where it really lays? Mental health dept we just don’t want to be bothered turn them over to the sheriff. A hundred thousand for a rash from hand cuffs. Trial lawyers just waiting to sue the City,County and state because they know deep pockets when they see them. Instead of paying to keep from going to trial call their bluff and if they (the plaintiff) pays all court costs.


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C.D. ARe you saying that Mental Health workers snuck into the jail and tortured Holland to death and that they are to blame and NOT the jail guards?


Where did you get this information? I don’t think it’s accurate, to put it mildly.


You can’t blame this on budgeting. This is the result of cruelty and indifference to human life.


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Well, to be honest, the mental health machine refused to take him.


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Yes. But did the mental health machine torture him and cause his death by refusing to take him in?


He died of deep vein thrombosis caused from the chair. No one gets deep vein thrombosis and subsequent embolisms just by not being admitted to mental health.


The cops in the jail tortured and killed him. Mental health did not.


Easy to understand, hard to accept….cuz we’re supposed to worship and bow before the brave policemen who allegedly protect us….and this story contradicts that narrative in a big way.


Evil people tortured a man to death in our jail. How can I say they were evil? The story speaks for itself!!!


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It’s like a hospital guys. There are only so many beds. If a hospital unit has 8 beds and there are 8 patients to put in those 8 beds, then the hospital cannot take any more patients. In theory, the jail has beds and is SUPPOSED to keep a suicidal patient safe until more appropriate housing is made available. But since Ian Parkinson’s employees got all the funding and not mental health employees, the County is safe with Panga Boat catchers and unicorn catchers and county club sheriff substations. Deputies can run a jail, but obviously dealing with a human being that is ill is not on their paygrade. They just tie them to a chair for two days to shit themselves and get blood clots. This wasn’t an inmate, he was a patient. Mental health needs more staff and more beds.


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Disgusting! If these allegations are true, this is another clear example of the canary in the coal mine.The overt insensitivity, intolerance and lack of respect for a fellow human being has resulted in this young mans death.

WHO hires these monsters? WHO monitors their behavior? WHO conducts their employee evaluations?

The correctional culture has to change. I’m proposing the establishment of a civilian board who’s job it will be to oversee the county jail system and investigate any and all complaints with regards to prisoner and correctional officer welfare, treatment, and jail conditions.

This would be a starting point.For those of you who would ask who would pay for this….ask who paid the $5,000,000.00 for the death of Andrew? A civilian board would cost a lot less than the amounts being paid for wrongful deaths and abuse.


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Pelican1, while it would be nice if this could be fixed by civilian oversight, I am VERY skeptical of such an arrangement. Why?


Civilian oversight doesn’t fix the core problem, namely that cops are by definition above the law and are endowed (by the state, not the creator) with rights and privileges that non-cops do not enjoy. In fact, what is legal for cops is illegal for serfs:


speeding, parking anywhere, body armor, ability to carry guns, immunity from commission of crimes during work hours, ability to lie in order to extract “confessions,” driving drunk with impunity, ability to keep vicious dogs as pets, ability to trespass onto private property, ability to forcibly abduct people against their will, etc.


Such a “culture” attracts sociopaths by the drove! The same people who would be keen to join the mafia are now police. They have the same psychological profiles and behave the same way…namely gross indifference to human life.


In fact, in 2016 asset seizure by police exceeded the total amount of property stolen by thieves and burglars! (look it up)


Civilian oversight won’t fix the core problem, which I outline above.


What would help is if we teach our children not to be cops and make the job and those who take it cultural pariahs. Like with the mafia……


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A civilian board WOULD in fact fix the problem, simply by identifying the problems, and addressing complaints, as an independent, outside agency without bias or prejudice.

Over time it will force the existing culture to change there by “fixing” the core problem.


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Parkinson needs to go, as do the officers directly involved with this latest murder. They were allowed to continue because there was no consequences from previous abuses. At this point those above Parkinson’s should start being held accountable as well. Maybe some prison time for the officers involved may help them absorb how their inhumane and despicable deprivation has consequences. Simply implementing new rules is not enough. This is not just a tragedy or an accident, it was deliberate.


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Exactly. Rules don’t deal with deep character flaws. The people who tortured Holland didn’t do it for lack of training or funding! No, they did it because they are bad people….cruel with no regard for human life. Training doesn’t fix that. They belong in jail…just wearing the other uniform.


Pay the lawsuits directly out of the cops pension funds. Every dime of it comes right out of their pension….zero from the taxpayers.


Of course that is just wishful thinking. Cops are more important than we are. They don’t have to obey the laws they enforce, and they are allowed all kinds of special rights and privileges that we serfs will never enjoy.


They can do whatever the hell they want….as this case and others so clearly demonstrate.


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This story just proves what anyone can easily deduce:


Holland’s death was not the result of improper or incomplete training. Neither was it due to staff being over-worked, or some story about how funding needs to increase, etc.


No….Hollands death was due to cruel indifference to human life. You can’t train cruelty and contempt for human life out of a person. Such people usually go to jail! One way or the other…..either way they’re criminals, no matter which uniform they wear at the jail.


Cruel people, who torture people and then laugh work in our jail. These people are paid with our tax dollars and will NOT be fired. They will be given raises instead.


Like I’ve said so many times before: Nobles and serfs. This is predictable human behavior.


If you create a class of people who are above the laws they enforce and enjoy all kinds of special rights and privileges far beyond what the serfs enjoy, such a situation attracts sociopaths, psychopaths and other sick individuals who do harm to other human beings for sport and money.


Nothing is new here. Well, nothing except the supine, submissive position serfs take when faced with such news. At one time we were free people and acted like it. Now, we just keep quiet and hope we don’t end up in jail, getting tortured, etc.


Survival techniques:


1. don’t call police! If Holland hadn’t called, he’d still be alive.

2. don’t talk to police. If they’re having a bad day, they can beat you, taze you, or kill you without recourse.

3. don’t offer to help police. Stay away from them. All encounters with police are potentially deadly encounters. They aren’t there to help, they are there to enforce.


Don’t ever forget that.


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DocT,


Easy deductions are shrouded in right wing bullshit, just look at the lies perpetrate by the current POtuS and how the right just gobbles ’em up like so much candy. The current POtuS has emboldened and empowered our LEO’s and the agencies they work for to do whatever the fuck they feel without worry (POtuS’s speech of July 28th, 2017). No, cops don’t have to have a bad day to taze, beat or kill you they just have to have a day in which to do it and a POtuS that encourages it.


While Andrew Holland didn’t die at the hands of the community of SLO it is their apathy and outright hatred of the mentally ill that emboldened LEO’s and their minions to kill him. The community of SLO is a bunch of low life cowards and I am ashamed to call it, SLO, my birthplace!


I’m not long for this sight anyway as the moderator has had enough of my truth without candy coating the bullshit so let me leave with this…


I left SLO in 2012 as I couldn’t get a home in my birthplace. I have been the brunt of SLO right wing idiots attacks on this sight, on the streets of SLO and in places of business even to the point of causing me physical pain and suffering. I tried to communicate my thoughts, ideas and concerns without the occasional fuck you thrown in and got absolutely no where. Now I cannot say what I please because I hurt the feelings of those without any feelings and I am being censored because of it.


I respect you DocT as you say things in such a way I can ‘t because of the outright distaste I have for my birthplace and it’s current flock of right wing nut jobs…


With that I bid sad adieu and a heartfelt fuck you to SLO…


Jeff Stone


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There is some truth to what you say but you are making a way-to-broad generalization. Not all cops (or jailers) are like this. In fact, a majority in this area are not. My big problem is that the ones who are don’t suffer the consequences for their actions that anyone else would expect. Also, the good cops don’t help to deal with the bad ones for the most part. They either sit quietly on the sidelines or, in a few cases, actively protect the bad boys.


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So the ones who dumped Holland out on the floor and laughed are the bad cops….and the ones who said nothing, did nothing and haven’t spoken out against this outrageous, cruel behavior are the good cops.


Got it.


Please think about what you’re saying. “…..good cops don’t help to deal with the bad ones for the most part.”


What? Do you hear yourself? This is precisely why I say they’re “all” bad. When they start arresting their own and speaking the truth I’ll allow there are some good cops. Not until then.


They are accomplices and shouldn’t be punished to the same degree as those who torture….but they are accomplices none the less.


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Yeah, that was poorly stated by me. What I should have said is that cops, like all people, are a mix of good and bad. When I referred to good cops above, I was referring to ones that are, on-balance, good. Not perfect. But good enough that they don’t directly partake in the activities you justly criticized.


Do I wish they were better to the point where they were more active against the really bad ones? Yes. But the focus should be on not hiring bad cops and getting rid of those that already are bad first. Cultural changes rarely come quickly. They take time and work.


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I hope SLO pays dearly for this! I just wished they’d come directly to the doors of its citizenry and collect personally, I do! I’d volunteer to do it! I’d have a big ol’ SLO County collectors hat on with a t-shirt that says “Hi! I’m L.A.RamsFan And It’s Time To Pay Up, Cowards!”


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As I understand from what I read, the jail restraint area was empty. Typically volunteers perform similar clean up at the Animal Regulation Kennels on a daily basis. Was Sherry Roy a County Employee or under the custody of the Sheriff Department? Either way somebody needed to perform the task and if we can have prisoners perform such details, great. Certainly sanitation PPE was provided, if not? Break out the check book again for forced placement without training in a dangerous health risk environment. Maybe we can send all of our prisoners to San Bernardino and get them back after they are risk appropriate for our county. Our risk factor may have something to do with the Attorney Quotient, attorneys / population or simply put, “we gots to follow the stinkin rules.’


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Read the article George! Don’t nick pick it, read it! She was ordered to! An employee isn’t ordered to do something like this (they should be and generally are “asked”) and if she was she would never be locked in the cell! Jeeeez!


Comparing this to the pound in my opinion shows a callousness of one who has no regards for human life nor dignity, just like those who perpetrated this shit! Is this a comment or part of a resume you’re back dooring to the sheriff’s department? ‘Cause it sure sounds as if you’d fit right in.


Why San Bernardino County Jail? Have you been there? I have and I can tell you that you’d not last a night there if they knew you write shit like this.


I’m sorry folks, but it’s this type of shit that keeps the people in power empowered to do this type of crap. The George’s of the world have no idea and sadly don’t want to! Nope, they’d just as soon see someone die and have another human being clean up the mess involuntarily then put up a hand a say ENOUGH!!!!


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