Inmate identified after dying at Riverside County Jail
An inmate died Tuesday morning at the Riverside County Jail in Indio after apparently becoming unresponsive in a housing unit. The Riverside County Coroner’s Office identified the man Friday morning as 48-year-old Andrew Malanche of Indio.
Malanche is the second inmate at the jail who died while in custody in just over a week. The official cause of death hasn’t yet been determined in either case.
The sheriff’s department said jail staff responded at 6:44 a.m. after inmates reported Malanche unresponsive; he was suffering from an unspecified medical emergency.
According to the release, deputies and medical staff tried to resuscitate Malanche while awaiting for paramedics to arrive. Cal Fire and paramedics arrived and continued life-saving measures but Malanche was pronounced deceased at 7:09 a.m.
Deputies said there’s currently no indication of foul play and the investigation into his death is ongoing.
An inmate from Palm Desert died on the morning of Monday, July 13 at J.F.K. Memorial Hospital after suffering a medical emergency while in custody at the Riverside County Jail.
Authorities identified him as 27-year-old Joaquin Ernesto Crespo. Officials said he was arrested the night before near the intersection of Thrush Street and Edgehill Road in Palm Desert. He was booked into jail shortly after 2 a.m. on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and for violating a protective order.
Officials are still investigating the official cause of his death but said foul play wasn’t suspected.
On Thursday, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spoke to KESQ and CBS Local 2 about a recent trend it’s seeing with prisoners ingesting drugs to avoid charges and later paying the ultimate price.
Riverside County Assistant Sheriff Jerry Gutierrez said, “”The coroner hasn’t determined the cause of death with many of the deaths that have occurred this year, but at least three of them we suspect, based upon the statements of the individuals once they have gone into medical duress, that three could be related to narcotics ingestion,” said Gutierrez.
News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 will continue to check with the coroner’s office as the investigation continues into the deaths of Malanche and Crespo.
