Man kills self in jail, police say
A 50-year-old man apparently hanged himself in his jail cell last week in what authorities believe to be the first in-custody death in the Newport Beach Police Department’s history.
A custodial officer performing routine checks of the department’s jail cells discovered the man from Lake Elsinore about 2 p.m. Thursday, according to police. Emergency aid by the officer and paramedics trying to resuscitate the man was unsuccessful; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man had been arrested that day for multiple outstanding warrants, according to Newport Beach police. Authorities declined to identify the victim because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, said Sgt. Evan Sailor.
The Orange County district attorney’s office will investigate the death as a matter of protocol, said public affairs counsel Susan Kang Schroeder.
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-- Susannah Rosenblatt
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