A man has died while detained at the Iredell County Detention Center in Statesville. The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said the inmate’s underlying medical conditions played a role in his death.
“Obviously, it’s tragic. Anytime you have a loss of life. The detention guards, our detention officers are highly trained. They performed exactly as they should have,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said in a published media report.
Details about the man’s identity are being withheld at this time. The State Bureau of Investigations will be handling the case as it moves forward.
Sheriff Campbell says before the man was brought to the detention center, deputies believed the man needed medical care. He was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem on October 13. Two days later, on Oct. 15, he was released back to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office and taken to the detention center.
According to Campbell, the man was in an observation area when detention officers saw him as distressed and aggressive early in the morning on Friday. According to Campbell, the man was harming himself, which prompted intervention from the detention officers.
Three detention officers were injured trying to restrain the man according to Campbell. The man died around 3 a.m. Friday.