Coroner identifies man found dead in his cell

MILPITAS » The Santa Clara County Medical ExaminerCoroner’s Office identified 36-year- old Carlos Aguilar as the inmate who was found deceased Sunday night at the Elmwood Correctional Facility.

The coroner’s office ruled the cause of death as suicide.

Aguilar was found unresponsive in a single-person cell at about 7:56 p.m., according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail. Deputies and medical personnel at the facility tried to revive him, and requested outside medical assistance.

The Milpitas Fire Department arrived about 8:08 p.m. and pronounced Aguilar dead 19 minutes later.

Sheriff’s office detectives are investigating the death with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and the Santa Clara County Medical ExaminerCoroner’s Office.

Aguilar was booked July 25 on charges related to carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle as well as several vehicle code violations for driving under the influence, according to the sheriff’s office.

Before Aguilar’s death, the county’s last in- custody death occurred Oct. 14, when Isai Lopez, 23, of San Jose, was found unresponsive in a single-person cell at the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose.

Authorities concluded Lopez hung himself, but family members and jail-reform advocates say it just isn’t possible. The sheriff ’ s office, in response, released a statement saying there was “overwhelming video evidence that … Lopez committed suicide.”