Settled but not settling

The 39-year-old man's legacy is a mug shot, an example of what can go wrong during arrests, a rap sheet and a name in a newspaper article. He was also a son, a brother and a father. But at the end of it all, he is also and always will be deceased.

Denise Giudici, his longtime former girlfriend and mother of his younger son, wonders if Escobedo's reputation fatally preceded him. She remembers him as someone she knew for more than a decade, someone she loved, someone who took his 8-year-old son on weekend outings. She believes the eight officers responding to a neighbor's call Nov. 17, 2002 arrived on scene with the idea that he had a checkered criminal past and was therefore someone to be dealt with harshly. They weren't looking to understand the situation or diffuse it calmly, she said. They were looking to take him in without figuring out first the gist of the circumstances. They were volatile, she said.

"Just because they have a person with a record doesn't mean they have to be mean and ugly," she said. "They automatically assumed the worst but everybody makes mistakes."

As with most things in life, there is no concrete, agreed upon version of events surrounding Escobedo's final moments.

According to police and coroner reports, police responded to a call stating that Escobedo was trying to get inside his ex-girlfriend's apartment. He died due to "excited delirium" after the encounter which included pepper spray, nunchucks and a straight jacket-like wrap. The coroner's report also noted traces of methamphetamine in his system.

Guidici remembers things differently. She said a neighbor called the police over a dispute and she never had any reason to fear for her safety despite previous domestic violence incidents. There was no pepper spray, she said, and Rick's eyes were rolling into his head before the wrap was even applied.

In a wrongful death lawsuit, the rest of Escobedo's family also asserted that the amount of force used by the police broke seven ribs and damaged his trachea, leaving him unable to breathe.

Despite her certainty that Escobedo's death wasn't right, she was willing to let it go in hopes of moving forward with their son. His family fought on though, filing claims and most recently a federal lawsuit settled for $250,000 in March.

The money is set up in a trust for Escobedo's two sons, including the now-10-year-old boy belonging to Guidici.

Of that, he will get about $50,000, she said. She's glad he has something but she'd rather he had his father. He misses him, she said, and is scared of all police. She's afraid he'll always harbor that fear and be plagued by nightmares.

She also wishes her son had a place to visit his father. Escobedo was cremated and his family - to which they weren't close - scattered the ashes, she said.

In recent months, a handful of San Mateo County residents have died in police custody. Some were Tasered, some were shot. The most recent was placed in a wrap similar to the one used on Escobedo.

Guidici doesn't automatically assume every case was a wrongful death, like Escobedo, but she definitely considers it.

"It's never right when they die in police custody," she said.

She wonders why non-lethal force is linked to the death of multiple residents.

"What happened to bean bags or even shooting them in the leg?" she asked.

Guidici is at a loss to offer advice to anyone who ever finds themselves on the other end of a police call. She is a blank, simply trying to take one day at a time. She and her son moved from the apartment where Escobedo died but that doesn't mean she's anywhere near over it.

In settling, city officials say they are admitting no guilt. Though she really had no role in the lawsuit, Guidici said accepting the settlement likewise is not an admission that his death was justified or can be mollified by a financial bottom line.

"You can't put a price on nobody," she said.

The lawsuit may be settled but it seems little else ever will be.

Michelle Durand's column "Off the Beat" runs every Monday and Thursday. She can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.