Man, 23, Dies in Jail of Possible Overdose : Inquiry: Coroner’s officials say an autopsy leads them to believe the incident was drug-related. His family says the case was mishandled.

A 23-year-old Santa Paula man arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of cocaine died of a possible overdose in his cell at the Santa Paula Jail early Tuesday, police said.

Relatives of Daniel Guajardo immediately denounced the Police Department’s handling of the case. Guajardo’s wife chastised police officers for not taking her husband to a hospital and questioned the official version--that Guajardo had died 10 hours after being arrested from drugs he had allegedly ingested earlier that afternoon.

Guajardo was arrested about 5 p.m. Monday in downtown Santa Paula after a heated argument with his estranged wife, relatives said. He was found dead in his cell about 10 hours later, police said.

Santa Paula Police Chief Walter H. Adair said Guajardo seemed healthy when he was interviewed for about 30 minutes by the jail’s booking officer. Guajardo was booked on suspicion of cocaine possession, being under the influence of cocaine and interfering with a peace officer, Adair said.

In accordance with department policy, jail officers checked Guajardo’s cell every hour after the arrest, Adair said.

However, when an officer went to the cell about 3:15 a.m. to prepare Guajardo for transfer to the Ventura County Jail, he discovered that Guajardo was dead, Adair said. He added that a sergeant who witnessed Guajardo’s autopsy reported that the coroner found no evidence of trauma.

The coroner’s autopsy also showed no evidence of disease, said Dr. Ronald O’Halloran, assistant chief medical examiner. The cause of death is presumed to be drug-induced pending a toxicology report, O’Halloran said in a news release. Late Tuesday, O’Halloran said that presumption was based on “the absence of any other explanation of cause of death” and Guajardo’s reported history of drug abuse.

Adair would not comment further on the circumstances surrounding Guajardo’s arrest, release the names of the officers involved in the incident or discuss any other details regarding the case, pending the outcome of his department’s investigation.

Guajardo worked at the yard of Santa Paul Equipment Rental on Harvard Street for the past six months. He is survived by his wife, Frances Marie Guajardo, 22, and their four children, Cristina, 5, Daniel Jr., 4, Selina, 3, and Tiffeny, 11 months.

David Sorric, manager of the equipment rental company, described Daniel Guajardo as “a good guy and a fine worker.”

“He was never on drugs at work,” Sorric said. “He didn’t seem to be erratic, and he didn’t have people calling him demanding money or anything.”

Daniel Guajardo’s wife said that on Monday, she and her husband were preparing to move out of their 7th Street apartment by putting furniture into storage.

Daniel Guajardo’s aunt, Cristina Aguilar, who witnessed his arrest at the storage garage, said the couple had been arguing.

The two had been separated for months but were planning to move back in together, said his wife, Frances Marie Guajardo.

Aguilar said a neighbor called police when Daniel Guajardo became agitated, but by the time the patrol car arrived, Frances Marie Guajardo had left and her husband had calmed down, Aguilar said.

“He said, ‘Search me if you want to,’ and an officer started searching him,” Aguilar said. She said that during the search, Daniel Guajardo accidentally touched the officer and another officer came up from behind and used a chokehold on Daniel Guajardo’s neck.

At that point, Aguilar said, she took one of the Guajardo children back into the house “because I didn’t want him to see his dad being treated that way.” When she returned, the police officers were gone, Aguilar said.

“He never had a problem with the police before,” she said Tuesday. “He wasn’t violent. He was just tired from moving all day.” Police would not say Tuesday evening whether Guajardo had an arrest record. Aguilar said she knew her nephew sometimes used drugs but that she had never seen him taking anything.

She said she was angry because so many questions were unanswered: “If his arrest was drug-related, why didn’t they call a doctor or take him to a hospital? Why did they wait so long to transport him to the county jail? Why did they wait until he was already dead?” she said.

Tuesday afternoon, Frances Marie Guajardo had driven to her old apartment with her children, another aunt and two friends to pick up some of her belongings.

A welfare recipient with four children and no place to go, she said she hoped a newspaper article would attract some donations.

“We had just had a good time Friday night,” she said. “We went out with our kids and our comadres and had a big dinner. We were having problems, but we were getting back together.”

Like her aunt, Frances Marie Guajardo spoke angrily of the police. “Why didn’t they call a doctor?” she said. She said her husband had complained of chest and leg pains during a phone call from his jail cell and told her not to come to the police station “because it would make matters worse.”

Frances Marie Guajardo also said she was angry at herself. “If we hadn’t been fighting, none of this would have happened,” she said. “I would have taken him to the hospital myself.”

Police officials around the county said someone who ingests enough cocaine to overdose would probably be identified during the screening process their officers conduct.

Sgt. Ernie Aviles, second in command at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s narcotics unit, said if a deputy on patrol detects symptoms that signal an overdose--such as paranoid behavior or profuse perspiration--a suspect is immediately taken to an emergency room.

Because cocaine is a short-acting drug whose primary effects wear off in 1 1/2 hours, deputies should be aware during the interview process of whether the suspect is in danger of suffering an overdose, Aviles said.

Police officials in Oxnard, Simi Valley and at the Ventura County Jail said they follow similar procedures.

In the last 10 years, nine people have died after being booked into county jails, some in their cells and some after being hospitalized. But none of the deaths were drug-related, said Cmdr. Robert Brooks of the Sheriff’s Department, which runs the county jails.

Four of the deaths were suicides, and five were caused by medical problems, Brooks said.