Family demands answers in Chambers County Jail death

The call came one night three weeks ago when Cherrie Coates was watching an NBA Finals game.

“Ms. Coates, I’m sorry for your loss,” said a captain from the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office.

“What the hell (are) you talking about?” Coates recalls saying.

The mother jumped in her car and drove from Houston to Bayside Community Hospital in Anahuac. Other relatives were already gathered. The scene there confirmed the news from the phone call: Her 37-year-old son Dontriel Jovan Coates was dead, his body already bagged on a gurney.

He died July 14 in the hospital roughly eight hours after he was booked into Chambers County Jail, where he suffered a medical emergency that may have been a drug overdose, according to officials and preliminary reports.

The man’s family said there is little information available as they search for answers and seek justice in the unexpected death.

“I want to know how my child died inside that jail,” said Coates. “Something is not right.”

The family filed open records requests for body camera, car and jail surveillance footage, but said getting information from authorities has been difficult.

“We just want to make sure there was no negligence,” said cousin Rickey Coates. “We want to know exactly what happened.”

Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said he will release the videos after the Texas Rangers, the third-party agency tasked with looking into the death, conclude their investigation.

Cameras were recording Coates for the duration of his time in custody, Hawthorne said, minus a short meeting in the captain’s office to discuss bond.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Hawthorne said. “The Coates family are part of our community and I mourn the loss as anyone else would. I wish it had not happened the way that it did.”

It appears that Coates may have swallowed baggies containing a controlled substance at some point when he realized he would be booked into jail, Hawthorne said, although the investigation is not complete.

“I don’t think there’s any kind of wrongdoing,” Hawthorne said. “Everything that I’m seeing from our end and cooperation with the Rangers, it looks like it is very much an issue that we could not have prevented.”

Justice of the Peace David Hatfield performed an inquest and ordered an autopsy, according to an in-custody death report the sheriff ’s office filed with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

The official cause and manner of death have not been released because toxicology results are pending, according to the report. Preliminary results show that Coates had ingested two baggies, one containing a crystalline substance. The day of the incident, a deputy offered to give Coates a courtesy ride to Anahuac after spotting him sitting on a guardrail on a hot day.

Everyone knows each other in the county, said Cherrie Coates, and she believes law enforcement officials were familiar with her son. Court records document a lengthy criminal history.

When the deputy ran a warrant check and discovered that a judge issued a motion to revoke probation due to a drug offense, he arrested Coates and brought him to jail.

Upon an entry search, jail staff found that Coates was in possession of a substance they believe was methamphetamine, according to the agency’s report, and authorities charged him for the offense. He was placed in a holdover cell to wait for his arraignment and four times called his mother to discuss why he had been arrested and whether he could bond out of jail.

Coates asked to speak with a sheriff ’s office captain and was escorted around 2:30 p.m. to the captain’s office where he relayed concerns that the agency was violating his rights and disrespecting him, according to the custodial death report.

They spoke for roughly 20 minutes before jail staff escorted Coates back to his cell. He did not mention any health issue or appear to be ill, the report said.

Staff conducted routine checks every half hour, according the the sheriff’s office report. An hour and a half later, while booking another suspect, officers noted that Coates was lying face down on the bench and covered in perspiration.

Jail staff called EMS and an officer asked Coates if he ingested anything before he was booked into jail. Coates was “responsive but difficult to understand,” the sheriff’s office noted in the report.

He began to fall down when staff tried to help him walk, so officers laid Coates on his side and monitored his pulse and breathing. His pupils were dilated.

Paramedics transported Coates to Bayside Community Hospital shortly before 5 p.m. and performed CPR when his heart failed. They prepared to transfer him to Hermann Memorial Hospital, but his condition deteriorated and a doctor pronounced Coates dead at 7:19 p.m., according to the report.

Coates had no pre-existing health conditions, his mother said.

Coates leaves behind a 5-yearold son, a 4-year-old daughter and a large extended family. Hundreds of people packed the pews at his funeral, including classmates from his days playing football and basketball in high school and community college.

He was a loving, fun man with an infectious smile who always dressed well in designer labels like Gucci and Ralph Lauren, said cousin Rickey Coates. The pair loved to fish together.

“My baby was a good person,” his mother said. “I’m just so lost for words.”