Ukiah man dies in county jail
Was arrested only hours before death
A Ukiah man died in the Mendocino County Jail just a few hours after he was booked into the facility Tuesday, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office reported.
According to the MCSO, the 64-year-old man was “intoxicated” when he was booked at the jail around 12:30 a.m. Feb. 7, after having been arrested on suspicion of “possession of drug paraphernalia, refuse disposal in state water, and a violation of parole.” The man was reportedly on parole for “failure to register as a Sex Registrant.”
When the man was brought into the jail intake room, he was evaluated by medical staff, who reportedly “took (his) vital signs and cleared (him) to enter the facility.” He was then put into the “Jail's Sobering Cell,” where he was reportedly “monitored for a minimum of four times per hour.”
Around 6 a.m. Feb. 7, jail staff members checked on the man, described as the only person in the Sobering Cell, and found him unresponsive. Corrections staff then summoned the jail's “in-house medical staff.”
When staff members were unable to detect a pulse on the man, they attempted “resuscitation measures and called for an ambulance.” When personnel from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority and local ambulances responded to the jail, they “assisted jail staff with life-saving measures until death was pronounced at approximately 6:32 a.m.”
The MCSO notes that its Investigation Bureau was then called to investigate the man's cause of death. When asked Wednesday if that cause had been determined, MCSO Capt. Greg Van Patten said an autopsy had been performed that morning, but the results were pending toxicology reports, which were not expected to be available for several weeks.
When asked if the man's name was being released, Van Patten said his office was still trying to
locate his next of kin to notify them of his death.
On Tuesday, the MCSO'S online booking logs showed the photo and name of a 64-year-old Ukiah man who had been booked into jail Feb. 7 and listed his status as “death,” but that information has since been removed.