LOS ANGELES, May 28 (UPI) -- The family of a man who died in the Los Angeles County jail is pressing a wrongful-death lawsuit, claiming the man was taunted and beaten by a jailer.
Ramon Gavira was arrested for drunk driving in the summer of 2002 and taken to the county jail. Five days later, he was dead.
Jail officials say the 43-year-old Compton, Calif., auto mechanic hanged himself. Guards said they found him hanging from the bars of a one-man cell, but Gavira's family began asking questions when they saw his bruised and battered body at the funeral home.
The body had six broken ribs, a broken collarbone and bruises that would be hard for any man to inflict upon himself, the newspaper said.
A spokesman for LA County Sheriff Lee Baca said Gavira committed suicide. The newspaper, however, said that regardless of how he died, testimony and other evidence suggest that Gavira -- the father of five -- was deprived of medical care, mocked and beaten during his brief stint behind bars.
