In the morning on the day of Jason Perez’s death, Diana Perez called the police in response to Jason Perez’s behavior, including threatening her. Eventually, officers located and transported Jason Perez to Live Oak County Jail. Perry and Vasquez worked as a corporal and officer, respectively, at Live Oak County Jail.
With respect to “intake documentation” that was prepared upon Jason Perez’s arrival, the plaintiffs alleged that Perry and Vasquez “failed to include the most relevant symptoms and issues suffered by Jason” Perez on a form for “Screening for Suicide and Medical/Mental/Dev. Impairments.” This included answering “‘NO’ . . . on fields asking if Jason [Perez] was worried that someone was trying to hurt him and if he was showing signs of mental illness.” The plaintiffs also alleged that Perry gave “incorrect and incomplete documentation when she completed the ‘Inmate Mental Condition Report to Magistrate’ form,” which “may have never made it to the magistrate since there is no documentation [it did]” and on which Perry “left unchecked the . . . criteria, ‘Subject is violent and appears to be a danger to themselves or others.’”
Carabajal worked as a health care provider for Coastal Plains Community Center, a healthcare provider at Live Oak County Jail. The plaintiffs alleged that Carabajal performed a “telephone screening” of Jason Perez and “completed the Coastal Plains Community Center MHMR assessment” of him, “us[ing] this as support for her indifferent determination that [he] did not need further in-patient treatment.” Carabajal “was aware of Jason[] [Perez’s] need of medical care for his mental health crisis,” and the desire of one of the reporting police officers “to share . . . information about Jason[] [Perez’s] mental status,” though “she ignored both.” Carabajal “only” documented “mania” and “mood swings” as Jason Perez’s “current symptoms,” “fail[ing]” to document “his bizarre/inappropriate behavior, hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, and anxiety.” During her screening of Jason Perez, other individuals “noted that they overheard Jason [Perez] repeating the same delusional thoughts to Carabajal.”
Jason Perez was released from Live Oak County Jail the same day. That evening, after a patrol officer misidentified Jason Perez as somebody else and drove him to a restaurant, Jason Perez walked into oncoming traffic while “in a delusional state,” where a car struck and killed him.
The plaintiffs filed claims for (1) violations of Jason Perez’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, (2) Monell liability under § 1983, and (3) wrongful death and survival under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The defendants moved to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to allege constitutional violations, and that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated in its Per Curiam filed on December 22, 2025: “The thrust of Appellants’ complaint regarding Appellees is that Perry and Vasquez disregarded their observations and knowledge of Jason Perez’s mental health struggles and failed to properly document, or gave “blanket,” incorrect answers regarding, Jason Perez’s mental health symptoms on certain screening forms. Perry’s and Vasquez’s actions “gave the impression that Jason [Perez] was not in a crisis mode,” which thus “decreased” the “likelihood” of Jason Perez receiving “a thorough evaluation and specialized treatment … we cannot conclude that Appellants’ complaint plausibly states a deliberate indifference claim against Appellees. “At most,” Appellants “alleg[ed] that the [Appellees] acted with negligence in not taking further steps to treat” Jason Perez while he was in Live Oak County Jail. Dyer, 964 F.3d at 381. These allegations do not rise to a plausible claim for deliberate indifference. See id. at 380–81. Appellees’ “decision[s]” on “whether to provide [Jason Perez] additional treatment [are] a classic example of a matter for medical judgment,” and they do not “give rise to a deliberate-indifference claim” against Appellees
Source Macias v. Perry, No. 25-40028.
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