Inmate's Death in Martinez Ruled An Accident

By Bay City News

A coroner's inquest was held in Martinez today to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of a burglary suspect who died last fall hours after a sheriff's deputy used a Taser on him in county jail.

Oakland resident Donald Ray McCullough, 58, was arrested on suspicion of burglary in Pinole in the early hours of Oct. 30, 2012, and taken to county jail in Martinez. About 12 hours later, he was pronounced dead, according to the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office.
          
Police first found McCullough a short time after 3 a.m. on Oct. 30, after arresting Vallejo man Joel Vinatieri, then 45, on suspicion of burglarizing a Roundtable Pizza restaurant on Fitzgerald Drive, Pinole police Officer Joseph Updike testified.
          
Updike and another officer quickly found Vinatieri's truck parked near the restaurant. Inside, they also found McCullough sleeping, he said.
          
The officers had McCullough exit the truck and searched it, finding a police radio scanner, several burglary tools and a stolen gun, he said.
          
He was arrested on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of stolen property and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility.
          
During the arrest, Updike said, McCullough declined medical attention, although he mentioned that he suffered from congestive heart failure.
          
"Mr. McCullough was very fragile. He was very slow-moving," the officer recalled.
          
The officers also learned that the 58-year-old was on probation for a DUI arrest and had an extensive criminal history.
          
McCullough was booked into the jail around 7:50 a.m., received a medical evaluation and clearance from on-site nurses and was taken to a holding cell, Updike said.
          
About five hours later, the Oakland man was brought out of the cell for a DNA test.
          
For unknown reasons, he began arguing with deputies and refused to sign the consent form for the test, Contra Costa County sheriff's Deputy Eric Van Scoy testified.
          
"He appeared very agitated," said sheriff's Deputy Mitch Moschetti, who was also working at the jail that day.
          
Still refusing to sign off on the DNA test, the deputies took McCullough to an isolation cell. As they escorted him to the cell, the inmate continued to argue with the deputies, Moschetti recalled.
          
A short time later, he said, he could hear one of the deputies repeatedly telling someone to stop resisting.
          
Moschetti said he arrived to help the deputies restrain McCullough, who was "violently thrashing" and kicking at them.
          
The deputy said he then pulled out his Taser and warned the inmate that he would use it on him if he kept resisting.
          
He said McCullough complied briefly before kicking at the deputies again. Moschetti recalled warning the inmate twice more that he would Tase him if he kept resisting.
          
As McCullough kept thrashing his legs, the deputy used the Taser on the inmate's upper back for about five seconds. Soon after, the Taser malfunctioned, and Moschetti punched McCullough in the ribcage to subdue him,
he testified.
          
The deputies then took McCullough to another isolation cell, where they placed ankle restraints on him, the deputy said.
          
A nurse who came in a short time later to take the inmate's vital signs was told to return later, since McCullough was believed to be a danger to staff members and was too agitated to get a reliable reading, he recalled.
          
Around 2:30 p.m., during a routine check on the inmate, Deputy Matthew Ingersoll noticed that the 58-year-old seemed unresponsive and alerted his superiors.
          
Deputies arrived and saw that McCullough was unconscious. They began performing CPR on McCullough and nurses brought in an oxygen tank, Ingersoll testified.
          
The inmate was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead around 3:25 p.m.
          
An autopsy conducted the following day ruled his official cause of death to be Excited Delirium Syndrome, a condition that is usually associated with violent or bizarre behavior and results in sudden death, Dr. Arnold Josselson told the jury today.
          
McCullough was also found with methamphetamine, methadone and hydrocodone in his blood at the time of his death in addition to having an enlarged heart, the doctor said.
          
Dr. Dennis McBride, the jail's medical director, reviewed McCullough's medical records and found that the man suffered from a variety of health conditions including congestive heart failure, emphysema and high blood pressure.
          
During inquests, jurors are not asked to decide whether anyone has any civil or criminal liability in connection with the death.

The jury quickly reached a verdict this afternoon that McCullough's death was an accident.

In Contra Costa County, coroner's inquests are held any time a law enforcement officer is involved in a death.

About a dozen of McCullough's family members attended today's coroner's inquest. The man's son, Devon Matthew, said he and his relatives were left with many unanswered questions following the news of McCullough's death.

"If you go to jail, you expect to come out," he said.

Matthew said he also questioned why young, able-bodied officers needed to use a Taser on his 58-year-old father, who stood about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 144 pounds at the time of his death.

"My dad was fragile," he said.

McCullough, who lived with his mother in the Oakland Hills, struggled with drugs throughout his life but also worked as a handyman and "could build anything," his son said.

Matthew said that before his death, his father helped him get ready to open a business in the Central Valley town of Patterson.