A woman accused of participating in a drive-by shoot on the morning of September 30th died last week at a local hospital from complications from a drug overdose she suffered in prison, Santa Fe police confirmed on Monday.
Officials learned during their investigation that Brianna Romero, 20, died October 10 at the Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, deputy chief Paul Joye said.
Romero was one of three people arrested in the shootings that damaged several residential buildings and vehicles on Jaguar Drive and resulted in lockdowns at Capital High and other nearby schools. She and her sister Deavonne Romero (23) and 16-year-old Elijah Gallegos were charged with over a dozen crimes.
Following the arrests, Deavonne Romero was sent to Santa Fe County Jail and Gallegos was taken to San Juan County Juvenile Detention Center. But Brianna Romero was taken to the Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center for treatment for an opioid overdose. It would be the first of two overdoses she experienced in detention.
After her arrest at around 11 a.m. on September 30, Brianna Romero was taken to a holding cell at Santa Fe Police Headquarters on Camino Entrada, Joye said. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., he said, she was found unresponsive in her cell.
According to police reports, officers attempted life-saving measures, including administering the overdose drug naloxone, until rescue workers arrived. Presbyterian doctors later discovered a bag of pills in a body cavity that investigators suspected was fentanyl.
Romero was released from the hospital at 5.45pm that day after doctors approved her detention. She was sent to jail two hours later, records show.
The next morning, a guard found her unresponsive to her cell for “about 20 minutes” after a prior guard check. She was taken to Presbyterian a second time and “resuscitated with Narcan,” according to a report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. But she still suffered from cardiac events. A doctor found a bag with “clear crystals” in a body cavity.
Joye said the bag was separate from the one the doctors found the day before. However, it was unclear when or where Romero obtained the second bag of substances and when she hid it in a body cavity.
The bag was handed over to prison, which Romero released after learning that it was unlikely to survive the overdose. Doctors told a sergeant in Romero’s prison “physical condition was unstable with no evidence of neurological function,” the sheriff’s office report said.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Juan Ríos said MPs are not investigating the substance in the bag. The prison would have to request an investigation first, he said.
Santa Fe County officials did not respond to questions about the prison’s booking process, such as whether it includes body cavity searches or x-rays.
When asked if the prison was conducting an investigation into Romero’s fatal overdose, district spokeswoman Carmelina Hart wrote in an email: “Medical information for current and former inmates is confidential by law. All critical incidents are evaluated internally. “
Romero was released from county custody by a court order on October 1 at around 12:10 p.m., Hart added.
Joye said police are conducting an internal investigation to see if officials breached guidelines during Romero’s arrest and booking process. He found that when arrested, officers only palpate and do not search caves.
Romero was alone in the detention cell and was monitored by a security camera, he added.
“When she was released for detention by Presbyterian doctors, they found that she was healthy enough to go to jail,” Joye said.
Melanie Mozes, a spokeswoman for the Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, said she was unable to release details about Romero’s hospital stay due to federal patient privacy laws. She found that the process for admitting and discharging patients is the same whether or not they are incarcerated.
“Patients are screened for medical emergencies based on their symptoms and medical condition and receive stabilizing care,” said Mozes. “Depending on a patient’s needs, they can be admitted to the hospital, transferred to a higher level of care, or discharged home. With regard to incarcerated patients, they are more likely to be released to law enforcement than home. “
Deavonne Romero told police her sister was not known to use drugs and that she did not use her sister on the day of the shooting, reports say.
When it was found that Brianna Romero would not survive her second overdose, Deavonne Romero requested a vacation from prison so she could visit her sister in the hospital. Her defense attorney Sam Ruyle said she was never allowed to see Brianna before she died.
The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign
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