Three families are taking Sacramento officials to court after three deadly encounters with law enforcement in 2024 and 2025. The new wrongful-death suits target the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County over a March jail death, a June traffic pileup during a police pursuit, and a deputy-involved shooting in the Vineyard area.
Three suits, one legal moment
According to The Sacramento Bee, the families filed separate wrongful-death claims in December that name both the city and the county and seek compensatory damages. The complaints accuse authorities of everything from reckless pursuit tactics and improper use of force to breakdowns in jail classification and required welfare-check procedures. The Sacramento Bee also reported that the Sacramento County district attorney's office said it would not conduct a criminal review of these use-of-force incidents.
Jail death that led to a claim
In March 2025, deputies responding to a disturbance in a cell at the Sacramento County Main Jail found an inmate unresponsive. Another detainee was arrested at the scene, as reported by KCRA. The jail went into lockdown while homicide detectives investigated, and the detained inmate remained in custody.
What Thompson’s complaint says
The family of Daniel Thompson, described in court filings as homeless at the time of his detention, has sued the county, alleging jail staff failed to properly evaluate and classify him and did not follow required welfare-check policies, according to The Sacramento Bee. The outlet reports the county coroner later ruled his cause and manner of death as ligature strangulation, and that criminal proceedings connected to the incident remain pending.
Pursuit crash that killed an uninvolved driver
In June 2025, a high-speed police chase ended at Florin Road and Greenhaven Drive when the suspect’s vehicle slammed into multiple cars, killing 30-year-old Huyn Huu Duc Nguyen, KCRA reported. Nguyen’s family filed one of the three suits, alleging that the pursuit and the way it was handled contributed to the deadly crash.
Federal complaint over Vineyard shooting
One of the three cases landed in federal court. A complaint by Asma Mojaddidi, filed on behalf of her son, appears in the case file listed on Justia Dockets. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office initially said deputies first used a less-lethal option and then opened fire when the person continued to advance, according to early reporting by CBS Sacramento.
What’s next
The federal docket lists an initial scheduling conference in April 2026, while the other cases remain pending in Sacramento Superior Court, so discovery fights and early motions are still a ways off. Even if prosecutors decline to bring criminal charges, civil suits can trigger internal reviews or policy shifts. At minimum, these filings will put the families’ allegations on the public record and force city and county officials to respond in detail.
