The State - News from May 15, 1989

Police in Mountain View believe a man who had a seizure while in custody and later died of heart failure swallowed a bag of cocaine when he was left alone briefly in an interview room. Charles Kent Blankenship, 34, had been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, police said. Officers searched Blankenship for weapons but did not conduct a strip-search. When they returned to the interview room, they saw a white powder on his chest and moments later he went into convulsions, police said.