By admin 
Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more Who designed Prop. 40? Meet the academics behind California’s billionaire tax brawl
A California lawmaker is considering introducing new police transparency legislation as a result of a Sacramento Bee investigation into an Elk Grove police death, as a mental health organization is calling for an attorney general investigation.
Scott Saetern, 37, was unarmed and in an apparent mental health crisis at an Elk Grove gas station in June 2025 when police placed him in a constraint device and spit hood and laid him in the back of a vehicle for 10 minutes as he yelled for help and eventually lost consciousness.
He never regained consciousness and died the following day.
Video footage, which the Bee obtained from the attorney who filed a lawsuit on behalf of Saetern’s family, was not released to the public. That’s because a state law that requires police to release footage when they shoot people does not always extend to compression or asphyxia deaths while people are restrained, either by a device or by the bodies of the officers themselves.
Elk Grove Police spokesperson Sgt. Jason Jimenez said the county coroner’s death report found the cause of death to be cocaine toxicity and did not place blame on the officers.
However an independent autopsy could find the cause to be asphyxia, as has happened with similar cases, according to police expert Ed Obayahsi, a Modoc County deputy.
After reading the story, Assemblymember Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, said he is “strongly considering” introducing new state legislation that would require departments to release footage and disciplinary records for compression or asphyxia deaths, regardless of what’s in the coroner report.
“I would be definitely interested in introducing something,” said Schultz, a former deputy district attorney. “As chair (of the Assembly Public Safety Committee), I take that responsibility seriously. It’s on my radar now. I need to brush up on it and dig deep … I believe daylight is a good cleanser and the only way to in the long term hopefully restore some trust.”
Schultz expects to remain the committee chair for the next session, which begins in December, he said. The committee’s other members will be determined in December or January.
Nancy Skinner, the former senator who introduced the landmark 2018 transparency police bill, SB 1421, said she would support the expansion of the law.
“If there are deaths that could be assigned to an officer’s actions that are not now covered, it seems to me reasonable to cover them,” Skinner said.
Calls for an AG investigation
Under current procedures, the Elk Grove Police Department’s internal affairs unit is investigating the actions of the officers involved in the Saetern case to determine, privately, whether any officers should be disciplined or fired.
In addition, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office will review the death to determine whether to criminally charge any of the officers involved. The outcome of that investigation will be public, however District Attorney Thien Ho has never charged an officer regarding use of force.
No other investigations are currently planned.
The Attorney General’s Office investigates police deaths of unarmed people, but only from shootings.
Two statewide mental health advocates are calling on Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate anyway.
“I think it would be appropriate to refer this investigation over to an independent agency like the AG’s Office,” said Oscar Lopez, managing attorney for mental health at Disability Rights California. “Just because it’s not a shooting that does not mean the AG’s Office should not investigate it. There is a pattern out there about the use of spit hoods combined with other restraints that can result in deaths that warrants investigation here as well.”
Read more Can I fix a mistake on a ballot? What to know during California general election
Lynn Rivas, executive director of the California Association of Mental Health Peer Run Organizations, agreed.
“To expect them to be able to police themselves in this situation is not reasonable, as their judgment is clouded,” Rivas said. “The police can’t police themselves. So the idea of bringing an outside organization in, like the Attorney General’s Office, makes a lot of sense.”
Then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra in 2020 released a slew of recommendations to the Sacramento Police Department following the high-profile 2018 fatal shooting of Stephon Clark. According to its web page, the AG’s Office has not investigated a Sacramento County police death since then.
An AG spokesperson declined to comment on whether it’s considering investigating the Saetern death.
“To protect their integrity, we can’t comment on, even to confirm or deny, potential or ongoing investigations,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Mobile crisis unit
Rivas said that if non-police mental health professionals would have been on the scene, Saetern might still be alive.
“When there are no weapons, the police should’ve just referred it to the (mental health) team, the team should’ve gone out there and de-escalated it,” Rivas said. “It’s a waste of police resources. The whole thing could have been avoided.”
Sacramento County has a Community Wellness Response Team, which consists of non-police mental health professionals, who can help during mental health crises.
“Law Enforcement can contact the HOPE Line, this is a 24/7 direct line for Law Enforcement to request a co-response or referral/warm transfer behavioral health calls to CWRT,” said Elizabeth Zelidon, a county spokesperson. “A CWRT dispatcher will (provide) de-escalation and support in community if it is warranted.”
The EGPD spokesperson did not answer a question of whether the police called the CWRT while restraining Saetern.
The more than two hours of police footage the Bee reviewed did not appear to show the police called the CWRT.
“It sounds like something’s not working,” Rivas said. “I don’t know if the team is not funded fully or isn’t really available 24/7. But that team should’ve been on the scene.”
Lopez said across the state, the teams are often short-staffed and can’t get to all the incidents they are requested for — an issue that could worsen if the state cuts funding next year, which would be “extremely detrimental,” he said.
Sen. Sasha Pérez, D-Alhambra, called for EGPD to release the records showing if any officers were disciplined in the incident.
“Senator Pérez did express concern about what your reporting has uncovered and what took place in Elk Grove,” said Jerome Parra, her spokesperson. “She believes that records relating to this death should be released by the Elk Grove Police Department for the sake of transparency with the public.”
Read more Who designed Prop. 40? Meet the academics behind California’s billionaire tax brawl