Lawyer Locked Inside Jail Visiting Room For Hours

SAN DIEGO (CBS Sacramento) -- A lawyer was trapped inside a jail visiting room for hours after being forgotten by jail officials.

Attorney Erubey Lopez was locked inside the visiting room at the downtown San Diego jail for four hours while trying to visit one of his clients.

"I was really mad, and I try not to be mad about things like that," Lopez told U-T San Diego. "What if I had been sick or had heart issues?"

Lopez said he was trying to use the intercom system, which was broken, and was banging on the door for hours trying to get someone's attention. At one point he thought he would have to sleep on the concrete floor inside the visiting room.

"I have a sweater and a jacket and I take off my sweater and I try to use it as a pillow," Lopez told KNSD-TV.

After four hours being trapped, a guard finally heard Lopez and set him free.

"It was an unfortunate incident on our part," San Diego County Sheriff's Cmdr. John Ingrassia told U-T San Diego. "It was a breakdown in communication."

Ingrassia says that Lopez's client was in the process of being booked when the attorney came to the jail to see him.

Lopez will file a formal complaint over the incident.