Nassau Cops Release ID Of Inmate Who Reportedly Died Of Drug Overdose At Jail

EAST MEADOW, NY — Nassau County police say that it was a 29-year-old Brooklyn man who reportedly died on Wednesday at the Nassau County Correctional Facility from what appears to be a drug overdose.

Nikita Pertsev "suffered a medical episode" while at the East Meadow facility just before 1 p.m. and he was taken in a police ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead by a physician, Nassau police said in a news release Friday.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman confirmed for Newsday that Pertsev's death was an overdose.

Blakeman told the outlet: "We are sorry for the death of one of our inmates who died of an overdose. There will be a full and transparent investigation to determine how the contraband got into our correctional facility.”

There is an ongoing investigation by the Homicide Squad, police said.

The death of an inmate at the jail from a fentanyl overdose was examined in a 2021 state Commission of Correction report citing officials there for not doing more to stop drugs from getting inside the facility in the midst of "a pattern of drug-related contraband" activity, Newsday reported.

Drugs, including marijuana, prescription pills, heroin, and other substances, as well as drug paraphernalia, were seized 237 times between 2016 and 2019, according to the outlet.