BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
The family of a man who died by suicide at a San Mateo County jail claims sheriff’s office employees were indifferent to “obvious red flags” that the man was having mental health issues.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court by Hunter Bergner’s family, said jail medical employees did not take precautions to stop Bergner’s death. They also said jailers didn’t check on Bergner regularly.
The lawsuit said Bergner, who was 46, was found on March 15 unresponsive in his cell.
“It’s not just about Hunter’s death,” said attorney Denisse Gastelum, representing Bergner’s wife, Patricia Colet and their children. “It’s (about) what type of systemic issues, failures, wrongdoings were permeating in San Mateo jails that allow for these types of inmate deaths to occur.”
Bergner was arrested for allegedly being a felon in possession of a gun. He had been on probation for disturbing the peace, according to court records. He had been in jail for under a week at the lawsuit.
Bergner was despondent due to the possible one-year potential sentence for the gun possession, the lawsuit said.
“It continues to be a shock for the family,” Gastelum said. “Your husband was in jail and was able to harm himself.”
Bergner was born and raised in Northern California and a fan of the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors, the lawsuit said.
A statement from the sheriff’s office on Aug. 5 said corrections officers had recently checked the cell block where Bergner was housed.
“Suicide has a profound impact on us all and we extend our deepest sympathies to Mr. Bergner’s loved ones during this time,” Sheriff Christina Corpus said in the statement.
The county has not received the lawsuit, according to David Silberman of the County Attorney’s Office, which represents the sheriff’s office in lawsuits, and therefore wasn’t able to offer a comment.
Bergner’s family is suing Corpus as well as the county and jailers. The lawsuit said Corpus is at fault for “the training, supervision or control of her subordinates.”
The lawsuit also claims the county has a history of disregard for the health and safety of its jail inmates, going back to a 2004 Civil Grand Jury report that lambasted how the county treated inmates at the time.
Five jail inmates have died since Corpus took over in January 2023. The other four who have died are:
• Maycarla Sulapas, 25, of South San Francisco, who was jailed for attacking a relative and acting erratically including being naked in the street. She had lethal levels of meth in her system when she died Jan. 7, 2023, the District Attorney’s Office said.
• Peter Edward McLaughlin, 64 of Pacifica, who was arrested for threatening another person with a gun. He died in the jail on Oct. 20, 2023, from brain cancer, which hadn’t been diagnosed previously.
• Ronald Simmons, 34, of San Bruno, who had been arrested for battery and making criminal threats. Authorities said Simmons had a history of depression and his death on Oct. 21, 2023, was ruled a suicide.
• Anthony Harding, 23, of Oakland, died Jan. 14, in the jail’s drug detox unit after his arrest for misappropriating lost property and resisting arrest.
The Bergner family filed its lawsuit the same day an inmate allegedly sexually assaulted another one in the jail. The sexual assault occurred Monday, Dec. 2, around 3:30 p.m. in the Maguire Jail at 300 Broadford St., sheriff’s spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker previously told the Post.
No formal charges have been announced in the elevator sex assault case. But the District Attorney’s Office confirmed last week that it is reviewing the case sent by the sheriff’s office and is deciding whether to bring charges.
Corpus’ terrible management has resulted in yet another civil suit. How much will she cost county taxpayers before they remove her?
Wrongful death lawsuits are common in law enforcement and corrections environments. Pre-trial settlements are very commonplace. All in custody deaths need not be followed by wrongful death lawsuits such as this one. This particular lawsuit under the Corpus administration may indeed have an above average settlement payout. Any loss of life is tragic. Loss of life that is attributable to the negligence of others is even more devastating.
For decades, San Mateo County correctional facilities operated by the Sheriff’s Office have had executive oversight, most commonly by an Assistant Sheriff for, or of, Corrections. The entire time since her election victory, well over two years now, Sheriff Corpus has not hired an Assistant Sheriff for Corrections. Not one. How can that be the case? A violation of her oath of office? Willful neglect? Negligence?
Months after her election, Corpus got the county to hire at least three transition team members, at the cost of several tens of thousands of dollars, to ensure a smooth transition in her assumption of Office. The transition team did not produce anyone to fulfill that role. Two of those contractors miraculously created roles for themselves. Sheriff Corpus, the Sheriff’s Office and those in the correctional settings were without any executive oversight of the correctional facilities. In early May 2023, the Corpus administration posted a job opening for the Assistant Sheriff for Corrections position through Bob Murray and Associates. No experience in corrections is mentioned as needed on the job flyer that remains open and posted on the internet, for a job paying up to about $250,000 annually. If anyone applied, they were not chosen. Sheriff Corpus, the Sheriff’s Office and those in the correctional settings continued to do without experienced executive oversight in the local correctional facilities. It remains that way today.
Did Victor Aenlle have that executive level correctional experience to fulfill that role? I think not. Does Undersheriff Perea have that executive level correctional experience to fulfill that role? I think not. Does Sheriff Corpus have that executive level correctional experience to fulfill that role? I think not. So in the entire time Sheriff Corpus has been in office, plus the five to six months preparing to take office, she has been unable to find anyone with executive level correctional experience to fulfill that role?
Failure to supervise and manage correctional facilities can easily be reasons for early, out of court, settlements in these wrongful death lawsuits. How much compassion does that reflect directly attributable to Sheriff Corpus to prioritize this level of executive oversight of corrections in San Mateo County? Alternatively, is that cruel and unusual punishment for those incarcerated in San Mateo County?
Five deaths in two years. That has got to be a record.
The Bergner case is worse than shown. The gum charges were associated with domestic violence where Bergner intended to harm his ex wife and the children. Judge Reyna of the family court was forcing the children to see the father ignoring all the red flags. Had he not killed himself, the mother and the children would have been murdered by him. Investigates the family law case records and abuse.
You are completely wrong. The gun charge stemmed from an AR15 that was safely stored in his gun cabinet at home. Only California & several other liberal states even have laws related. When he had an altercation with his wife they take the guns, no matter who is at fault. There was no domestic violence. There was no threat to use guns. He had several charges for trying to communicate with his wife. That’s it! Her attorney found out about the gun issue & brought it up to the DA in a divorce proceeding. They then prosecuted him on that simple AR charge of it being somehow illegal. That’s it!
It is a case of society being crazy about issues that have no bearing. It is tragic because he was my son & he did nothing more than want to see his children. The state & his wife persecuted him to the utmost.
Wow no assistant sheriff of corrections for two years, but the sheriff has the time to get the doctor a few raises. Now the jail is being supervised by an undersheriff who can’t remember what printer he’s using.