California jail workers not negligent in the suicide of former columnist’s son, DA says

The Orange County district attorney’s office has concluded that jail personnel were not negligent in the suicide of former Southern California News Group columnist David Whiting’s adult son.

Sean Whiting, 35, was under suicide watch in an Orange County jail mental health unit when he choked to death after stuffing orange peels down his throat on Dec. 23, 2022.

Although the Sheriff’s Department “owed Whiting a duty of care, the evidence does not support a finding that this duty was in any way breached — either intentionally … or through criminal negligence,” concluded the district attorney’s investigation, released Thursday, March 21.

An attorney for David Whiting, who is suing the Sheriff’s Department, contended Thursday that jailers did not adequately monitor Sean Whiting and allowed him to stockpile oranges from his sack meals.

“They literally gave him the gun and gave him the bullets and then were surprised when he killed himself,” said attorney Annee Della Donna, arguing deputies should have routinely confiscated Sean Whiting’s trash.

David Whiting added: “I do hope for justice for Sean and especially other families whose adult children may have taken their lives in the Orange County jail. Those who do this are rarely in the right state of mind.”

David Whiting retired in 2019 as an award-winning metro columnist for the Southern California News Group and, earlier, the Orange County Register, where he had worked for three decades. Over his 10-year tenure as a columnist, he wrote more than 1,000 pieces. Previously, he was an assistant managing editor at the Register.

The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the report because of the pending litigation.

Sean Whiting was arrested on Dec. 21, 2022, for violating a temporary restraining order obtained by his mother. He died two days later.

Whiting had a history of mental illness and had been hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation. He would not sleep for days because of severe insomnia, resulting in hallucinations, according to his father’s lawsuit. He also had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder as well as anxiety disorder and suffered from depression.

Less than two hours before Sean Whiting’s death, an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered him released from jail.

According to the district attorney’s report, Sean Whiting made statements while in custody that he was feeling depressed, wanted to kill himself and would stab himself in the neck, cut his wrists “or I’ll figure out a way.”

He was placed in a psychiatric observation unit at the jail’s Intake Release Center in a cell with a glass wall and a large observation window, the report said. There were security cameras inside and outside the cell.

Footage from the videos show deputies and jail workers checked on Whiting every 30 minutes and administered prescribed medication, according to the report. The video also captures Whiting stuffing food down his throat, but deputies did not respond until he pounded on the glass wall in distress.

“You have all those cameras — shouldn’t someone be watching those cameras?” Della Donna said.

The report says Whiting was behind a privacy wall shielding the commode when he stuffed the orange peels down his throat.

“There was nothing to indicate that Whiting was attempting to commit suicide,” said the report, adding that jail medical staff responded promptly when Whiting indicated he needed help.

“There is nothing to indicate that Whiting’s death was the result of inaction or improper action of OCSD personnel or those under the supervision of OCSD,” the report said.