BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
The family of a Menlo Park woman is suing the city, saying that their daughter would be alive if a police officer had gone into her apartment when a neighbor called the police asking to check on her.
Ashley Kilkelly was in her Menlo Park apartment on Oct. 25, 2020, when she began having “extreme medical distress,” according to the lawsuit filed in San Mateo County Superior Court.
Kilkelly, 40, was in such extreme pain and groaning so much that a neighbor called the police and asked them to do a welfare check. But according to the lawsuit, the responding officer, who is not named in the suit, never went into the room. He saw that Kilkelly’s door was unlocked, but instead of going inside, he allegedly opened the door a little bit before closing it and leaving, according to attorney Stanley Goff, who is representing Kilkelly’s parents Diana and David Bauer.
When Diana Bauer didn’t hear from Kilkelly the next day — the two talked on the phone almost every day — she asked one of Kilkelly’s friends to ask police for another welfare check. This time, emergency responders went into Kilkelly’s apartment and found her dead.
Kilkelly dealt with chronic back pain, and regularly took prescribed pain pills to deal with her condition, Diana Bauer told the Post. However, she appeared to have taken pills laced with fentanyl because that was in her system, according to David Bauer. Kilkelly’s parents speculated that she had run out of pills before her doctor’s appointment set for Oct. 26, 2020.
“She was in no way suicidal or a drug abuser, she had lived with this pain half her life and had it well balanced,” Diana Bauer said.
Kilkelly worked at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital after traveling around the country as someone who trained other medical professionals how to use Siemens equipment. But was asked to stay on at Stanford, where she worked with pediatric cancer patients, Diana Bauer said.
The Bauers described their daughter as a “spitfire” who was generous, fiercely loyal and had many friends. Diana Bauer recalled a time when Kilkelly once got duplicate Christmas presents and instead of exchanging the present, she took the gift to a “less fortunate girl in her grandma’s neighborhood.”
Menlo Park Police Chief Dave Norris said in a statement, “Our hearts go out to the family of Ms. Kilkelly. We have been served with this lawsuit and are aware of the allegations. We are working through counsel and the litigation process.”
The lawsuit was initially filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, but for the past year has been on pause so it can be transferred to San Mateo County Superior Court, according to attorney Stanley Goff. The Bauers had also filed a claim with the city, which was denied.