Coroner's Inquest: Inmate Committed Suicide

A jury has ruled that a 24-year-old Alamo man who died while in custody at the county jail in Martinez last March committed suicide, according to county sheriff’s officials.

The Contra Costa County coroner’s inquest jury found that David Bremer died on March 20 from “asphyxia due to aspiration of food,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

The Alamo resident was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility around 1 a.m. on March 20 following his arrest in Walnut Creek on a warrant and for allegedly resisting arrest, according to sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee.

Sheriff’s officials said Bremer made statements to staff in the hours before his death about wanting to harm himself and was placed alone in an observation cell where deputies checked on him regularly.

Deputies checked on the inmate around 7:30 a.m. and found him unresponsive on the cell floor. He was taken to Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez where he was later pronounced dead.

The jury heard from several witnesses at Thursday’s coroner’s inquest before reaching a verdict that Bremer’s death was a result of suicide.

Contra Costa County holds coroner’s inquests in the event of deaths involving law enforcement officers. Inquest juries are asked to decide whether the death as a result of natural causes, by accident, suicide, or at the hands of another other than by accident.

--Bay City News