Frantic 911 call released at inquest into death of Lucia Jimenez at YVR

WARNING: Some people may find elements of this story disturbing.

VANCOUVER – The BC Coroners Service has released the 911 call made by a Genesis security officer after he discovered Lucia Vega Jimenez hanging in a shower stall at a CBSA holding cell at YVR.

No one had checked her for 40 minutes.

The two guards had come on shift at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2013, and 15 minutes later they were getting ready to transfer a detainee when someone knocked on the glass.

That is when Ron Tabalujan called 911.

Dispatch: What city sir?

Tabalujan: Oh we are in Burnaby. I’m sorry, we are in Richmond airport. 

Dispatch: You’re in Richmond airport, OK. Where at Richmond airport?

Tabalujan: Um, Vancouver.

Dispatch: Where in the airport sir?

Tabalujan: B.C. holding centre. The detention, immigration. 

LISTEN TO PART OF THE PHONE CALL:

Nineteen hours earlier, Jimenez was brought into the facility to face deportation back to Mexico. She was handcuffed and escorted by two security guards. At first she is searched and then left to contemplate her future in a holding cell.

At the inquest on Thursday the security guard testified Jimenez was polite, quiet and did not seem depressed.

But on Dec. 20, she can be seen on surveillance video walking into the shower with a sheet from her bedding.

The usual half hour checks were not done and by the time she was found, she was unconscious.

Tabalujan: She hang herself.

Dispatch: She’s hanging right now?

Tabalujan: Yeah, in the bathroom.

Dispatch: OK, I’m sending the paramedics to help you now, stay on the line. Cut her down immediately. 

Tabalujan: Thank you.

Dispatch: Cut her down now OK? Loosen the noose and tell me if she’s breathing.

Tabalujan: Yes, OK.

The coroner’s inquest aims to find out what went wrong and what precautions were not taken to prevent a young woman from taking her own life.

“That’s the type of facility ordinarily reserved for maximum security prisoners,” said Jason Gratl from the BC Civil Liberties Association. “There’s no natural light, there’s no appropriate reading materials, there’s nothing to do there except be confined.”