Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: This is the booking photo taken the night of Jorden Simms’ arrest on Dec. 21, 2019. Five days later, she was fatally injured after leaping from a moving transport vehicle. On Thursday, a Pima County jury absolved the GCSO of any responsibility regarding a wrongful death lawsuit brought by her mother, Deborah Sanchez.
By Jon Johnson
TUCSON – First the Attorney General found no criminal aspect on the part of the deputies regarding Jorden Simms’ tragic death by her actions on Dec. 26, 2019, or her claims of sexual assault by law enforcement, and now a federal court jury in Pima County has absolved the Graham County Sheriff’s Office in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Simms’ mother, Deborah Sanchez, and that people are held accountable for their actions.
The case was held in front of Judge John C. Hinderaker of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona in Tucson.
According to the lawsuit’s notice of claim, Sanchez initially was seeking $5 million from the county. After eight days of trial, a jury of six women and two men ruled on Thursday that Simms was responsible for her death by conspiring to release herself from her constraints and leaping out of a moving police vehicle and rendered a unanimous verdict in favor of the Sheriff’s Office.
On Dec. 26, 2019, Simms, 28, was being transported by a male detention sergeant and a female Sheriff’s Office deputy to Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center (MGRMC) for a CAT scan when she jumped from the moving Ford Explorer transport vehicle and was run over by the rear tire. The female deputy was utilized because a female officer was required to make the trip with the male detention officer and no female detention officers were available.
Simms was being transported to the hospital because she claimed abdominal pain resulting from being sodomized by a female detention officer upon her return to the jail after being taken to Sierra Vista for a sexual examination after she claimed she was sexually assaulted by a Safford officer while at MGRMC after her initial arrest. Multiple police agencies report that the claims of sexual assault have been unsubstantiated and have absolved the Safford officer and detention officer of any wrongdoing. The Safford officer has been on paid leave for the past year and the detention officer resigned from her position
After jumping from the transport vehicle, Simms was flown to Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, where she was declared brain dead on Dec. 27, 2019. On Dec. 28, 2019, an honor walk was performed for Simms as customary for organ donors and she was taken off life support and passed. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) investigated Simms’ death and the accusations she made regarding sexual assault and found the sexual assault claims against the Safford officer and detention officer to be “unsubstantiated”. The report also advised that Simms was responsible for her own death as she “jumped out of a moving vehicle causing permanent damage and ultimately leading to her death on Dec. 28, 2019.” The report also states that there was “no evidence to corroborate a violation of Arizona Revised Statutes by law enforcement” regarding any law enforcement officers actions with Simms, including her transportation to Sierra Vista and back to Safford.
Simms was initially arrested on Dec. 21, 2009, at Walmart after being caught attempting to shoplift and was taken in on a warrant.
During her arrest, she falsely claimed she was pregnant and was having related pains and was then taken to Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center, where she claimed she was sexually assaulted by the Safford officer – a claim that was proven to be baseless. Simms had a $25,000 cash or secured bond warrant out of Yavapai County from November 2019 on charges of theft of means of transportation, possession of drug paraphernalia, and failure to appear in court. Simms was released from the hospital and was booked into jail on her warrant after attempting to escape and having to be chased down by the arresting officer.
Days later she claimed the sexual assault but an examination showed no such result. Upon her return to jail from the first examination, she claimed a female detention officer sodomized her.
The scientific examination report from the DPS laboratory states that a “low level” of male DNA was located on anal swabs taken from Simms. However, Simms claimed the male Safford officer had digitally penetrated her vagina, not her anus, and that the female detention officer had sodomized her. The examination report advised that “inconclusive DNA results indicate that insufficient information exists to support any conclusion”.
Both the Safford officer and detention officer vehemently denied the accusations and no physical evidence given to date has supported Simms’ claims.
The autopsy report listed the cause of death as being from blunt impacts to Simms’ head, trunk, and extremities. The manner of death, whether it is listed as a homicide or otherwise, was left as “undetermined” according to the report.
In surveillance footage from a business across the street, Simms can be seen jumping from the Ford Explorer transport vehicle as it passed the Sunshine Valley Apartments on 20th Avenue, just south of MGRMC. Afterward, the detention sergeant exited from the front passenger side door – leaving the door open – and ran toward Simms. The deputy then turned the Ford Explorer around and drove back to protect Simms from being hit by any traffic.
A few minutes later, additional officers arrived at the scene as well as paramedics from Lifeline Ambulance, who immediately began to triage Simms. It took approximately eight minutes from when the paramedics arrived to stabilize Simms and put her in an ambulance for transport to the nearby hospital. She was then later flown to Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, where she was declared brain dead. From the time Simms jumped from the vehicle to the time she was in the ambulance after being triaged at the scene, a total of 22 minutes elapsed, according to time-stamp video footage and photographs.
An investigation showed Simms had switched the child lock on the Ford Explorer to the unlocked position on the rear driver’s side door and that she had slipped out of her leg restraints, handcuffs, and belly chain by utilizing shower gel she obtained from the restroom of Lori’s Place advocacy center in Sierra Vista. She had been allowed to use the restroom by herself just before being transported back to Graham County. The fact the officers allowed her to use the restroom was a point made by Sanchez’s attorney, David Joseph Catanese, who said in his opening statements that Simms’ death could have been prevented.
Catanese criticized the officers for not keeping a “direct line of sight” on Simms when she went to the bathroom, especially since she had been deemed a suicide threat and was not allowed regular clothes at the jail. It was in the bathroom where Simms reportedly obtained a small bottle of shower gel which she used to help slip off her hand and ankle cuffs.
Graham County’s attorney, Daryl Audilett, previously responded to the complaint in September by denying any wrongdoing, stating it was Simms’ fault she was injured and died.
“(Graham County and its sheriff’s office) deny that decedent Jorden Simms was not transported in a safe and reasonable manner. Jorden Simms was properly restrained with leg and wrist restraints attached to a belly chain and seat belted in the rear seat of the transport vehicle,” the response states. “Jorden Simms chose to slip out of her restraints, unfasten her seat belt, open the vehicle door, and jump from the vehicle while it was moving. All these actions by Jorden Simms and the fault of Jorden Simms are imputed to Plaintiff.”
The restraints and Simms’ shoes were found in the Explorer where she left them. The vehicle was not the deputy’s normal patrol vehicle but a spare unit that was taken because her regular patrol vehicle’s check engine light had illuminated.
Simms was declared brain dead at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson on Dec. 27, 2019. On Dec. 28, 2019, an honor walk was performed for Simms as customary for organ donors and she was taken off life support and passed. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) is investigating Simms’ death and accusations she made regarding sexual assault.
The autopsy report lists Simms suffered multiple fractures during the incident, including to her skull, two ribs, and spine, as well as subdural hematomas and contusions. However, the report lists that “the external genitalia are those of a normal adult female without evidence of injury. The anus is free of lesions.”
The report also lists that Simms had a remote tubal ligation, meaning a bilateral interruption of the fallopian tubes preventing pregnancy and that Simms suffered from “multifocal bilateral simple serous ovarian cysts.” A separate toxicology report listed Simms’ blood was negative for all drugs of abuse and forms of alcohol tested.
