Local News in Brief : Suspect in Traffic Case Found Dead in Jail Cell
A40-year-old man, arrested on warrants for traffic violations, was found dead in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Jail 2 1/2 hours after he was moved to his own cell because of complaints that he was creating a disturbance, police said Tuesday.
An official police statement on the death said Richard Moss complained of seizures when he was arrested in the 11700 block of Exposition Boulevard in West Los Angeles at 1:35 p.m. Saturday. Moss was examined by a jail doctor before he was admitted to a cell, the statement said.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death, authorities said. A police officer reading the statement refused to disclose Moss’ home address or to specify the circumstances of his arrest.
About 2:30 a.m. Monday, Moss’ cellmates alerted jailers that he was keeping them awake and he was moved to another cell, the statement said.
When jailers served breakfast at 4:30 a.m., they noticed Moss lying on his back and assumed that he was sleeping, the statement said. At 6:50 a.m. a jail nurse and a jailer saw that Moss had not moved, entered the cell and tried to revive him, according to the statement.
Moss was pronounced dead about 7 a.m. The death is being investigated by the robbery-homicide division, the statement said.
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