SACRAMENTO - An Elk Grove woman says she's considering filing a complaint against the Sacramento County Coroner's office after she was notified of her son's death by a note pinned to her door.
Mary Sprague said she was leaving for work April 5 when she saw the note on her front door. That was when she noticed her 18-year-old son hadn't made it home from his part-time job the night before.
Vestal Irwin Sprague III, ''Tiggs'' to his friends, had been killed in a head-on collision. He was only weeks away from graduating from Elk Grove High School.
''Is this how they do it? Is this how they tell you your only son is dead?'' asked Mary Sprague.
The Sacramento County Coroner's office says its policy calls for a deputy coroner to make a personal visit for next-of-kin notifications. If the family isn't home, the deputy is supposed to leave the note on the door, according to Ed Smith, a deputy coroner. If an address can't be found, a telephone call is the last resort, he said.
Sprague and her 21-year-old daughter Shauna were at home asleep that night, and they said no one knocked on the door.
Kim Burson, the deputy who signed the note, said Friday that she and another deputy coroner went to the house after 4 a.m. and knocked several times.
Sprague has not yet filed a complaint.
''I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through,'' she said.
Smith said every effort is made to have personal contact for next-of-kin notifications. He said he wasn't aware of any complaints about the note policy.
''We try to be sensitive to their emotional needs. From experience, we've found that families want to know as quickly as possible,'' he said. ''The note is not meant to be disrespectful in any way.''
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