The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is being scrutinized for their handling of in-custody jail deaths, again.

On Aug. 1 a federal judge presiding over the case of William Hayden Schuck v. County of San Diego determined that portions of surveillance video that “would have provided a level of objective information” as to what led up to his death while at the San Diego Central Jail in 2022 were wrongly erased despite that “the County had a duty to preserve [it].”

Schuck was found unresponsive in his cell on Mar. 16, three years ago, then showed signs of cocaine in his system during a presumptive test from the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office.

“The County’s decision to selectively preserve 36 hours of footage after Hayden was placed in the cell, but not the 55 hours before

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