State Investigating Death of Man Who Died in Custody at Durham County Jail

The State Bureau of Investigation is probing the death of a man who died Thursday night while he was being booked into the Durham County jail.

The man, whose name has not been released, collapsed shortly after he went before a magistrate and was given a bond for criminal charges filed by the State Highway Patrol, according to a press release Friday from the Durham County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s spokesman David Bowser stated in the release that the man was taken to the Durham County jail at about 10 p.m. He collapsed in an intake area at the facility, where detention officers and medical staffers provided assistance until paramedics arrived.

“Despite their continued life saving efforts, he was pronounced deceased at approximately 12 a.m.,” according to the release.

The sheriff’s office contacted SBI and directed questions about the man’s death to the department.

Although the cause of the man’s death has not been disclosed, he is at least the third person who has died while in custody at the jail during the pandemic.

As previously reported by the INDY, Brittany Kittrell, 34, collapsed and died on January 19 while in custody at the facility.

Kittrell’s grandmother told the INDY she had tested positive for COVID-19.

In September, Darrell Kersey, 59, of High Point became ill while in custody. The sheriff’s office did not disclose a cause of death, but the INDY reviewed his death certificate and found that he had died from COVID-19 complications.

Months before, in April of last year, a senior detention officer at the jail, Alexander Pettiway Jr., died from the virus during an outbreak at the facility.

Follow Durham Staff Writer Thomasi McDonald on Twitter or send an email to tmcdonald@indyweek.com.

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