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An inmate at the Durango Jail died last night — and it wasn’t at the hands of a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer, according to the MCSO.
MCSO Officer Chris Hegstrom tells New Times the death is being investigated as a “natural causes death.”
Hegstrom says he won’t identify the dead inmate until next of kin has been notified. He also wouldn’t tell us the age of the inmate, or what landed him in the county clink.
He says the death is still under investigation.
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The inmate is the second guest of the county to die in one of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails in the last 32 days. The last inmate death, that of 44-year-old Marty Atencio, was a far-cry from a “natural causes death.”
Atencio was arrested on December 15 after allegedly getting a little too aggressive with a Phoenix woman. He was taken to the Fourth Avenue Jail, where he was Tased multiple times by an MCSO detention officer — despite his already being in custody, and being surrounded by more than a dozen law enforcement officials, including the Phoenix police who arrested him.
He died several days later after his family took him off life support. Click here to watch video of MCSO detention officers Tasing Atencio.
We’ll get all the details about the most-recent dead inmate when they become available. Check back for updates.
