Videos show inmate dying inside medical isolation unit at Las Colinas Detention Facility

Every minute of the end of Elise Serna’s life is captured on video inside the Las Colinas Detention Facility. Her parents hope those videos lead to criminal convictions for a nurse and a doctor who were supposed to be taking care of her.

Nurse Danalee Pascua and Dr. Friederike Von Lintig face a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 24-year-old Serna.

Testimony on the second day of their preliminary hearing at the East County Courthouse centered on videos from inside the facility.

Serna was jailed on a petty theft charge after stealing alcohol from a grocery store. When she was booked into Las Colinas she wrote on the medical intake form that she drank alcohol, used opioids and was pregnant.

Serna was in general population at the women’s jail until a couple of days before her death on Nov. 11, 2019. San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Detective Lisa Brannan testified she watched every minute of Serna’s 5-day incarceration. At first, she seemed normal, but a couple of days in, Brannan testified she saw Serna lose her balance while standing in the “chow” line. 

After that, Brennan testified the videos showed Serna’s condition worsening. Serna was placed in the medical unit, but after she began vomiting constantly she was transferred to the medical isolation ward and assigned to room 5.

Brennan testified that during the last 24 hours of Serna’s life she saw Serna fall 13 times. Only once did she receive medical assistance even though the nurses' station was just feet from her room. The station had windows for observation and was monitored around the clock by surveillance cameras. That video was accessible to Sheriff’s Deputies and nurses, but there was no evidence that they monitored it.

Brennan said on the afternoon of November 11^th as Serna was being transported by wheelchair back to general population, she appeared to slide out of her wheelchair.  She was returned to the medical observation unit and placed on a mat on the floor while several deputies, nurses and two doctors came to her aide.

After several minutes, the video shows Serna sitting up. Then doctors, nurses and deputies leave the room.

A few hours later, Serna is seen on video wearing different clothing. She gets up and walks to the toilet in her cell and appears to have some sort of seizure, arching her back over the top of the toilet.

Testimony showed it was just after 7 p.m. when Pasqua tried to take Serna’s vitals through a slot in the door. Serna, wearing a yellow jail smock, is seen on the video falling backwards, hitting her head on the wall and sliding to the ground. Pasqua and a deputy enter the room for a few minutes, but leave, closing the door behind them.

Serna is seen on video shaking her arms for a bit, then she becomes still.

When the nurse enters the cell an hour later, Serna is lifeless on the ground.

“It leaves me disgusted that any human being can leave another human being suffering obviously, obviously suffering,” said Serna’s father Michael Serna, who saw the video for the first time in court. “Voluntarily walking away and leaving my daughter to die.”

Michael Serna was also angered by testimony that showed Pasqua and the deputy had conflicting stories as to whether Serna’s vitals had been taken before her death.

“It disgusts me how little compassion, how little humanity they have. How they could just leave somebody, walk away, shut the door, not even try to position them comfortably but left my daughter to die," he said.

More testimony is expected to continue through the week. The judge will then decide if there’s enough evidence to take the case to trial.