Jail Inmate Died Of Drug-Related Heart Ailment: Medical Examiner

SAN DIEGO — An inmate who was found unresponsive in his cell at the San Diego Central Jail last spring succumbed to drug-related heart disease, authorities reported Thursday.

Deputies found Jeremy Thomas, 28, passed out in his cell at the Front Street detention center shortly after 11 a.m. May 29, according to sheriff's officials.

After jailers and paramedics tried in vain to revive Thomas with CPR at the scene, an ambulance crew took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, Lt. David Gilmore said.

The county Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Thomas, who had been jailed on drug charges, died of hypertensive cardiomyopathy with acute chronic methamphetamine toxicity, and classified the manner of death as accidental.

– City News Service