Autopsy in Prisoner’s Death Awaits Toxicology Test Results
An autopsy on a man who died while in custody of the Sheriff’s Department is incomplete pending toxicology tests, which may take three months, the San Diego County coroner’s office said Friday.
James Leggett, 39, died early Thursday in Physicians & Surgeons Hospital after he had been arrested at the same hospital Wednesday morning and taken to County Jail.
Leggett had gone to the hospital after complaining of head and neck pains, vomiting and bleeding from the mouth, his grandmother, Lugencia Stewart, said.
Hospital officials called police after Leggett tried to hit a doctor and cursed at several nurses, said Tom Hennessy, chief executive of Physicians & Surgeons.
Leggett was arrested on four outstanding drug warrants, one of them felony possession of narcotics, police said. After receiving a written release from the hospital, police took him to jail.
He was returned to the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Hospital tests showed that Leggett had high levels of three drugs in his body, one of them cocaine, Hennessy said.
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