Santa Barbara County officials launch investigation into in-custody jail death

Hannah Wiley
SANTA BARBARA, CA - SEPTEMBER 03, 2019 Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown addresses a press conference at the Sheriff's Department Tuesday morning about the dive boat named Conception that burned near Santa Cruz Island early Monday with possibly thirty-four victims. A variety of agencies were dispatched to the scene this morning to assist but rescue attempts are suspended after no signs of other survivors as 20 bodies have been found, and 14 remain missing. Five people managed to evacuate the ship with help from good Samaritans aboard a pleasure craft called Great Escape, the Coast Guard said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown in 2019. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Barbara County officials launched an investigation on Monday into the death of a man being held in custody at the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Jail and medical staff found the unidentified man in his cell around 2:19 p.m. while making medical rounds in one of the jail's housing units, according to a statement released Monday. The man was unresponsive and not breathing.

Jail officials administered two rounds of Narcan, an overdose-reversal nasal spray, performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator, a device used to mitigate heart attacks. Additional medical personnel were called to the jail, "but the decedent did not recover and was pronounced dead at 2:46 p.m. without being transported," the statement said.

Officials are not releasing the name of the individual until they can contact his family.

The sheriff's criminal investigation bureau and the coroner's office have launched an investigation.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Advertisement