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The Orlando
Sentinel archive
INMATE DIES AFTER COLLAPSING
AT JAIL
County Officials are
Investigating the Latest Death at the Troubled Facility But Don't
Think it was Foul Play.
KISSIMMEE - A
30-year-old inmate at the Osceola County Jail died Friday, a few hours
after he was discovered ill in his cell and sent to the medical wing
for treatment, authorities said.
Officials said
Elvis Jimenez, 30, was not breathing when he was found on the floor
of his infirmary cell. The cause of death is under investigation,
but county officials said they don't think there was foul play.
``At 5 a.m.
a member of the medical staff felt he was ill so they took him to
the medical pod,'' said Twis Hoang, spokeswoman for the jail. ``At
9:50 a.m., a commissary inmate found him on the floor. He wasn't breathing
so they performed CPR on him.''
Jimenez was
taken to Osceola Regional Medical Center by ambulance and pronounced
dead at 10:28 a.m., officials said. Hoang said she was not sure why
an ambulance or the doctor on call weren't summoned earlier.
``Just because
you're taken to the medical wing doesn't mean you're ill enough to
call for an ambulance,'' she said. ``Maybe there was no need to.''
Jimenez, arrested
Monday on check fraud charges, complained of stomach and back pain
just before he died, a family member said.
``He called
his friend between 7:30 and 8 o'clock and told her his stomach and
back were hurting, and that he couldn't eat,'' said Rocky Jimenez,
the inmate's brother.
Rocky Jimenez,
28, said he was notified of his brother's death at 1 p.m. Friday when
a jail official called him at work. ``Right now I have to go to Pennsylvania
to get my mother and father,'' he said. ``After that I'll find out
what happened to my brother.''
Elvis Jimenez
has a 1-year-old daughter, family members said.
Because of ongoing
renovation of the medical wing, Hoang said, a temporary sick bay was
set up in one of the regular jail cells where a tower guard can observe
the ill inmates. Jimenez was in one of the cells when he was discovered
by an inmate delivering food.
Officials said
they couldn't discuss what symptoms Jimenez displayed at 5 a.m. because
it is part of his private medical record. An autopsy to determine
the cause of death will be performed within the next week.
Hoang said jail
officials will conduct an internal investigation of the incident to
determine whether their employees acted properly. Sheriff's Office
investigators were notified and will look into the cause of death.
There were no signs of a struggle on the body and toxicology tests
are expected to determine whether Jimenez died from a drug overdose,
detectives said.
When Jimenez
was arrested Monday, he told detectives that he used drugs. He was
charged with fraud and grand theft after cashing a stolen $500 check
at Jack's Quick Cash, 1815 West U.S. Highway 192, records state.
The death is
the latest incident at the jail.
In December,
a former corrections officer was convicted of a manslaughter charge
in the death of inmate Daniel Sagers, who scuffled with guards, was
beaten and later died at the hospital. Two other guards pleaded no
contest to lesser charges in the 1997 case. The dead man's family
won a $2.2 million settlement.
Last April,
an inmate hanged himself with a sheet.
Related
articles:
Lawyer
To Sue Osceola For Treatment of Inmate
Jail
Death Will Cost Osceola $2.2 Million
Ghost
May Tell of Jail Struggle
Copyright
2000, Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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