In 2010, Mario Lopez’s mother called 911 when her son needed immediate care for his mental illness. Expecting an ambulance, a sheriff’s deputy arrived, and rather than take Mario to the hospital as he told Mrs. Lopez he would, he arrested Mario. The Tulare County Jail held Mario on a misdemeanor charge for three months while he was not competent for trial, and did not receive the medical care he needed. Tulare County was deliberatly indifferent to Mario’s serious medical needs, and right after removing him from suicide watch, he was allowed to hang himself from horizonatal bars near the top of his cell.
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