Investigation: Deputies should have entered home

MINDEN, Nev. " Two deputies called to check on a 75-year-old woman who later died should have entered her locked home to determine her condition, according to an investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Undersheriff Paul Howell said Thursday no disciplinary action would be taken against the deputies because although they made a mistake, there was no misconduct.

"We don't feel the officers acted recklessly or with disregard," Howell said. "But we don't feel that (not entering the home) was a reasonable conclusion based on what they saw."

Howell also said had the deputies entered the residence of Geraldine Llewellyn on Oct. 10, 2008, and summoned medical assistance, it's unlikely she would have survived.

Barbara Gilbert of Beaumont, Calif., made a complaint after the sheriff's office responded Oct. 10 at 9:30 p.m. to a welfare check at Llewellyn's Robin Drive address in the Gardnerville Ranchos.

Llewellyn had missed a hair appointment and was not responding to concerned friends' telephone calls. According to Gilbert, neighbors and friends had pounded on the door earlier in the day without response.

When the sheriff's office arrived, a deputy checked around the locked duplex, knocked and rang the doorbell several times without a response.

The deputy discovered that Llewellyn's bedroom window was open about 2 inches. He removed a screen and tried to open the window, but it was locked from inside. He lifted the blinds, shined his flashlight in the bedroom and saw Llewellyn on her bed, apparently asleep.

He said her chest rose up and down several times, confirming she was breathing. The deputy called her name and saw her leg move to a bent knee position under the blanket.

The deputy said one of Llewellyn's co-workers was with him and saw her breathe and respond to one of the women's voices.

"We were both convinced Geraldine was well and asleep," the deputy said in his report.

When she failed to show up for work the next day, deputies again were called to the home at 7:10 a.m. where they observed Llewellyn lying in bed moving around. This time, the landlord unlocked the duplex and deputies called paramedics who transported the unresponsive woman to Carson Valley Medical Center.

She was taken by CareFlight to Reno where she died later that day.

Gilbert said Thursday she still believed the deputies' inaction contributed to her mother's death.

"Had the sheriff done their job, my mother may still be alive," she said. "The sheriff department failed to properly perform their job, according to their protocols and by their own admission in their internal investigation. Because of that, a vibrant and much loved woman did not have a chance to survive."

Howell said the deputies did follow welfare check policy, but the department was looking at additional training.

"You can't 'policy' every call," Howell said. "We don't feel they were unreasonable. They made a mistake. We make thousands of judgment calls a year as peace officers. We may not be right 100 percent of the time. We don't like to make mistakes. The only thing left to do in the aftermath is to ask could we have done better?"

He said the deputies had undergone remedial training as to their Fourth Amendment rights to enter the locked residence.

"Our message to the officers is that you should have taken this other information into account. They had the wrong focus on what legalities they had. They didn't understand the scope of their authority to enter the home on a welfare check.

"The officers are taking (Llewellyn's death) very hard. Early on they knew it wasn't a question of whether we made a mistake or not. It's not like they blew the call off. They spent at least 20 minutes or more at the call. The officers were concerned to the point did they have legal or justifiable reason to break into the home.

"You believe what you see at the time. That's human nature. They see and believe she's sleeping," Howell said.

Gilbert said she didn't plan to take any legal action.

"I had contacted an attorney previously and they indicated there is a law in Nevada that limits damages against the agency and it wasn't financially prudent to bring the lawsuit. It would take more money and resources to litigate than could be obtained in damages.

"I, personally, want this incident to change the policy at the sheriff's department and never want this to have to happen to another family," Gilbert said.

Howell said the department had been reviewing policies at the executive level.

"We did 107 welfare checks in 2008, and this was the only one where there was a problem," he said. "We do have a team of two captains and a sergeant working on policy. There have been detailed suggestions to the administrative and executive staff. We are approaching it from lessons learned."