Travis County Jail Inmate Dies In Custody

TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS — A 40-year-old man died in custody while at the Travis County Jail this week, officials said Tuesday.

According to a Travis County Sheriff's Office press advisory, Steve Estevan Guajardo became unresponsive while receiving medical treatment by county jail medical staff on Monday. The life-saving efforts proved futile, and Guajardo was pronounced dead at 4:42 p.m., the sheriff's office said.

Guajardo had been in jail since January 3 on a charge of Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual or Disabled Individual, officials said. A sheriff's office spokeswoman told Patch the Austin Police Department was the agency that effected the man's arrest, and the department had not authorized release of his booking photo as of late Tuesday.

Investigations by the Internal Affairs Unit, the Round Rock Police Department, and the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office are ongoing, sheriff's officials said, as is customary with any death in custody. "Evidence indicates Guajardo died of natural causes," the press advisory added.

An autopsy on Guajardo was conducted on Tuesday, and toxicology results are pending. Rather than have the Texas Rangers investigate the death as is customary, the Round Rock Police Department has offered to conduct an investigation into the death, the sheriff's office said.

"In the past, the Texas Rangers investigated deaths in custody in Travis County," sheriff's office spokeswoman Kristen Dark wrote in the press release. "That agency has an obligation to do so across the state of Texas. Since Travis County is an urban area with ample resources, the Round Rock Police Department and Chief Allen Banks graciously agreed to independently investigate TCSO death in custody cases so the Texas Rangers may better serve other areas."

She added that the The Texas Rangers will review the Round Rock PD's investigation once it's completed: "The Texas Rangers still serve as our agency’s secondary resource for death in custody investigations. They will be asked to review this investigation once it is complete."

Guajardo is at least the eighth Travis County Jail inmate to die while custody in less than two years. Since July 2017, nine inmates ranging in ages from 21 to 55 — have died while behind bars at the Travis County Jail.

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Travis County Inmate Dies After Being Found In Distress

Two Austin Inmates Die In Police Custody On Same Day

• In April 2018, sheriff's officials confirmed two Travis County Jail inmates died on the same day while in custody. Officials said Eric Taylor, 24, and Donald Cook, 50, were both separately found unresponsive and later died in what police termed 'natural causes.' Taylor, an Austin resident, was found on the floor of his cell. Police say he was unresponsive, and that corrections officers initiated CPR before the arrival of EMS officials. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead about an hour later, sheriff's officials said. During meal service that same day, Donald Cook, 50, of Austin, was said to be unresponsive in his cell at around 5:40 a.m. before being pronounced deceased at 6:30 a.m., police said.
• On July 8, 2018, Ronald Lynn Hall, 55, of Austin was found on the floor of his Travis County Correctional Complex cell. After being found "in distress," officials said, Hall was rushed to Dell Seton Medical Center before being pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m.
• Naquan Jamar Carter, 23, was found unresponsive in his cell just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, Travis County Sheriff's Office officials said in a press advisory. Officers and medical staff initiated CPR in efforts to resuscitate the man, but he was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m., a sheriff's office spokeswoman said.
• On Aug. 4, 2018, Arthur David Westley, 48, was found "unresponsive" in his cell on Saturday at around 9 am. Despite resuscitation efforts, the man was pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m., according to the advisory. Westley was the third inmate to die at the jail in less than one month's time.
• On June 19, 2017, Herman Titus, 21, of Austin, died under custody at the Travis County Jail after sheriff's officials had him transported by ambulance to South Austin Hospital while in critical condition. Sheriff's officials at the time said foul play was not suspected. Titus had originally been booked into the Travis County Jail the previous May on charges of intoxication assault and parole violation, sheriff's officials said.
• On July 9, 2017, Eloy Villanueva, 43, of Austin was said to have been found unresponsive in his jail cell at around noon. EMS medics were dispatched to the scene about 10 minutes later and performed CPR, but the inmate was pronounced dead by 12:51 p.m., Travis County Sheriff's Office officials said at the time.

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