Family of man who died in fall from SLO parking garage sues his drinking companion
The family of a 21-year-old man who died after falling from a San Luis Obispo parking structure has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against an Atascadero man who had been drinking with their son at a bar before his death.
That man, 57-year-old David Allen Knight, responded Tuesday by asking a Superior Court judge for a restraining order against the deceased man’s parents, saying they’re harassing him and accusing him of murdering their son. A judge denied that request Wednesday.
Despite once ruling Thomas “Tommy” Jodry’s death on Sept. 14, 2019, a suicide from jumping off the third floor of the parking garage, the county Sheriff-Coroner’s Office later amended its findings to show that his manner of death “could not be determined,” and instead noted that he “fell” from the structure.
The Tribune has not been able to obtain San Luis Obispo Police Department reports for the incident, and the newspaper is awaiting a requested copy of the Sheriff-Coroner’s Office’s investigative report on Jodry’s death.
Jodry’s family has publicly questioned the San Luis Obispo Police Department’s investigation and says that investigators were quick to rule it a suicide despite questions about the role of Knight, who was the last person seen with Jodry and who allegedly bought him 5 to 6 shots of whiskey within the roughly hourlong period before his death.
Competing legal actions
On May 14, William and Mary Jane Jodry filed a civil complaint in San Luis Obispo Superior Court alleging wrongful death against Knight, whom they allege “intentionally and proximately caused the death” of their son.
The family seeks damages in excess of $25,000 for loss of financial support, funeral and burial expenses, and loss of love, companionship, and more from Jodry’s death.
Lawsuits represent just one side of the story. Attorneys for Knight have not yet filed a response in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
The request for a restraining order filed Tuesday by Knight, however, represents the first time he has publicly shared his version of events.
Knight is being represented by the Paso Robles-based Cunningham Law Group, which is co-owned and managed by Central Coast Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham.
Cunningham referred a request for comment Tuesday to his partner and wife Shauna Cunningham, who also declined to comment on the case Wednesday beyond what Knight wrote in his restraining order request.
Atascadero-based attorney Eric Parkinson — brother of county Sheriff Ian Parkinson, a former captain with the San Luis Obispo Police Department — is representing the Jodrys in their lawsuit.
Eric Parkinson also declined to comment on the case Tuesday due to what he called a threat of legal action from the Cunningham Law Group. He instead referred to a website created by the Jodrys titled, “Justice for Thomas,” in which the parents say that their son was not depressed and had reasons to be optimistic for the immediate future.
The Jodrys say police reports and cell phone records indicate their son and Knight had a falling out shortly before Jodry fell, and they say Knight suspiciously showed up at their house later that night to return his cell phone.
The Jodrys question whether their son lost his balance and fell from the structure, deliberately jumped, or was “pushed.”
The structure Jodry fell from was not equipped with cameras.
Jodry’s family is asking the public for information, seeking witnesses who may have been around the Marsh Street parking structure in the early evening hours of Sept. 14.
Jodry was ‘looking forward to the future’
The complaint filed by the Jodrys in court does not include much new information, but the Justice for Thomas website describes him as a talented and intelligent young man who enjoyed skateboarding, art and playing guitar, and who had a budding online succulent business.
Though the website’s content says Jodry struggled with bullying and self-esteem issues in high school, he “was finally retaking control of his life with the help of a local therapist, whom he truly cherished.”
“Tommy was looking forward to the future,” the website says.
According to a page written by William Jodry, on Sept. 14, 2019, Knight pulled up to the family’s Atascadero home looking for Thomas, who told William Jodry that Knight was a photographer who was going to help him get his art published, and that the pair was “going to look at art.”
William Jodry wrote online that his account is based on police and coroner’s reports, as well as his own opinions. The Tribune has not yet obtained those reports.
According to his father’s account, Thomas Jodry and Knight drove to Cal Poly, but realizing it was crowded due to Week of Welcome, the pair instead went to lunch, Montaña de Oro, and then to downtown San Luis Obispo.
They had coffee, then went to Frog & Peach Pub on Higuera Street for drinks at about 8 p.m., William Jodry wrote. While there, Knight opened a tab, and within the hour that they were at the bar, “Tommy had at least six shots of Jameson Whiskey, which were paid for by Knight on his credit card,” Jodry wrote.
Around that time, Knight sent Thomas Jodry a text message that read, “F--- you,” which Knight later explained was to confirm Thomas had his number, William Jodry wrote.
At about 8:55 p.m., the pair left the bar. Thomas Jodry — who his father says later showed to have a blood alcohol level of 0.38, almost five times the legal limit to drive — face-planted on the sidewalk while walking and was bleeding from his face. His father wrote that he became irritated and/or embarrassed and ran from the scene and Knight.
While heading through the Downtown Centre, Thomas Jodry again fell and dropped his phone. Knight, following behind, picked up the phone and proceeded after him, William Jodry wrote.
At 9:18 p.m., San Luis Obispo police received a 911 call for a possible suicide attempt at the Marsh Street parking structure, and a responding officer found Thomas on the sidewalk near the southeast corner of Chorro and Marsh.
While the officer was attending to Thomas, Knight approached and told the officer, “I know him, that is Tommy, but I don’t want to be on record that I know him,” and declined to provide any information other than Jodry’s name and city of residence, according to the website.
Thomas Jodry was taken by ambulance to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:49 pm.
Later that evening, Knight arrived at the Jodry household and gave the Jodrys Thomas’ cell phone, saying he had been injured.
“He told us he lost Tommy somewhere downtown and then he heard police sirens,” William Jodry wrote. “He told us that he saw someone on the ground that looked like Thomas but the police refused to give him any information when he approached them.”
After confirming with the hospital that Thomas had died, his parents told Knight to return the next day to discuss what happened.
“Knight did not return or even call us ever again,” William Jodry wrote.
Knight calls death ‘heartbreaking,’ claims harassment
Court records show that Knight had previously requested a restraining order against the Jodrys, in December, which a Superior Court judge denied.
In a sworn declaration attached to his restraining order request Tuesday, Knight wrote that he is a full-time caregiver to his 83-year-old mother, with whom he lives.
He says that beginning in November, William Jodry has “engaged in a continuous course of harassing conduct.”
“Mr. Jodry continues to believe incorrectly that I bear responsibility for the tragic death of his son,” Knight wrote.
According to Knight’s side of the story, he and Thomas Jodry planned to visit the “Architectural Boneyard” at Cal Poly but instead ended up at the bar.
“After we left the bar, Thomas became very erratic, made disparaging comment towards a couple walking towards us on the street, and got into a fight with an unknown male,” Knight wrote. “I intervened (verbally) and attempted to de-escalate the altercation. The unknown male punched Thomas in the face or head, causing Thomas to fall to the ground.”
After the altercation, Knight wrote, Jodry got up and crossed the street, yelling profanities at two young women before falling again.
Knight wrote that Jodry dropped his cell phone and he picked it up for him while checking to see if he was OK. Knight says Jodry suddenly stood up and ran off with his arms “flapping around.”
“He was yelling at people as he ran. This happened too fast for me to return his phone,” Knight wrote. “I tried to run after him, but he was a considerably faster runner and I could not keep up.”
He said he searched the streets before coming upon emergency vehicle lights near the Marsh Street parking structure and saw someone lying on the sidewalk.
“At this time, I thought Thomas may have been hit by car. I told the police officer that I thought the person lying on the sidewalk was Thomas Jodry,” Knight wrote. “I asked if he was breathing, and the officer said ‘yes’ and told me to move back. I went back to my car to follow the ambulance so that I would know which hospital they took him to. The ambulance was gone by the time I returned, so I drove to Sierra Vista hospital and saw an ambulance and police cars parked outside.”
He said that he then returned Jodry’s cell phone to his parents.
“This was heartbreaking, and I continue to have sympathy for his parents,” Knight wrote.
Knight says he was interviewed twice by an unnamed San Luis Obispo police detective without a lawyer present. Two days after Jodry’s death, Knight says, the detective told him he was not a suspect in the death, and “that the investigation would be closed without any referral to the District Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution.”
Knight wrote that the Jodrys have shown up at his house on two occasions, and called him a “murderer” and a “predator,” demanding he pay for Thomas Jodry’s funeral.
“I feel terribly bad for the Jodrys that their son died, but I tried to help Thomas that night and did not cause his death,” Knight wrote. “I did not witness how he died.”
Knight is requesting a stay-away order and that the Jodrys cease making accusations against him.
Confusion over manner of death
Questions about Thomas Jodry’s death were compounded by a death certificate that was twice altered by the Sheriff-Coroner’s Office over a three-month period late last year.
The original San Luis Obispo County death certificate for Jodry issued five days after his death lists the cause as blunt force trauma injuries but did not include a manner of death (i.e., suicide, accident, homicide, natural, or undetermined).
In October, the Sheriff-Coroner’s Office amended that certificate to say that Jodry’s manner of death was suicide and that Jodry “jumped off a parking structure causing fatal injuries.”
Though the reason remains unclear, the agency filed another amendment in January, this time ruling that the manner of Jodry’s death “could not be determined,” and that he “fell from a parking structure, intentions were not known or witnessed.”
That latest amendment was not provided to the Cunningham Law Group when they requested it from the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office in early June, Jordan Cunningham told The Tribune. Due to the mix-up, Knight’s attorneys were only notified of the “undetermined” ruling on Wednesday.
As such, the inaccurate claim that the county ruled Jodry’s death a suicide is found throughout Knight’s request for a restraining order and in communications from the Cunningham Law Group related to the case.
After researching the coroner’s investigation, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla said Tuesday that he was told the agency’s most recent amendment had not been previously located by the clerk-recorder and the document was to be certified by that department Tuesday or Wednesday.
Jordan Cunningham said Wednesday that his office will be filing a declaration in Knight’s case along with the latest death certificate with the court.
A case management conference in the wrongful death lawsuit has been scheduled for Sept. 16.
Late Wednesday, a Superior Court judge denied Knight’s request for a restraining order, but set a hearing date for July 8.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:58 PM.
