City of Clovis set to pay $1.9M in wrongful death lawsuit

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Valley family claims Clovis Police caused their loved one's death when she needed help. A settlement ends the lawsuit over Isabel De la Torre's medical call that ended in tragedy.

The coroner's report declared Isabel De La Torre's death "Homicide by positional and compressional asphyxia due to prone restraint." In other words, she was killed by the position Clovis Police officers held her in. It's a death her family says could have been prevented.

"Any kind of people, any person that is calling for help, they should come up to them to help, not to kill," said Raquel Berumen, Del Torre's aunt.

Just before midnight on March 25, 2022, De La Torre's partner, Sonia Miranda, called 911, but a lawsuit filed by De La Torre's family claims partway through the call, Miranda hung up because they no longer needed medical help.

Police and EMS responded to the apartment. Police walked up to the apartment first and said they were let inside.

However, the lawsuit claims officers forced their way in.

Released body camera footage shows De La Torre was inside a bathroom when they arrived.

Officers held the door shut. When they let go, De La Torre abruptly leaves the bathroom and is immediately taken down by a K9.

While she was face down on the ground, several officers got on top of her and restrained her.

However, attorneys called the video police released to the public "carefully curated and misleading."

"The critical incident video did not show two officers, both of whom appeared to weigh an excess of 200 lbs, who remained on Ms. De La Torre's back, kneeling, repositioning themselves so that their full body weight was on her back for close to 17 minutes," said attorney Kevin Little.

De La Torre died at Community Regional Medical Center the next day.

Police pointed to a potentially toxic level of methamphetamine in her system.

Acute meth intoxication, as well as dog bites, were listed as significant conditions contributing to death in De La Torre's autopsy but not as the cause of her death.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Little emphasized that De La Torre was not accused of committing any crime, and police were told she wasn't armed at the time.

Her family hopes this incident changes how Clovis Police responds when people call for medical help.

"I do want the police from Clovis to have more sympathy when for people because losing a person, my niece, who was so young for nothing," said Berumen. "It could have been prevented."

De La Torre's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Clovis in June of last year. On Monday it was announced the City of Clovis agreed to settle the case for $1.9 million.

Clovis police released a statement today that said, in part:

"We would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of Isabel De La Torre regarding this unfortunate incident."

Little said while he believes Clovis police have taken accountability for their action in this case, he doesn't believe there have been systemic changes made to prevent this from happening again.

He hopes the awareness of this lawsuit will encourage the public to push for procedures to be reformed.

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