Quick Take:
Santa Cruz resident Trevor George, 42, died by suicide Saturday while in custody at the main jail, the county sheriff’s office said in a release Thursday. It’s the second in-custody death in the past year and fifth since 2019.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office says that a 42-year-old who was found in distress Saturday at the main jail and was pronounced dead that afternoon died by suicide.
The individual was Trevor George, a Santa Cruz resident.
In a news release Thursday, the office said a forensic pathologist determined he died from asphyxia by hanging.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office wrote in a news release that on Saturday at 4:07 p.m., George was found in medical distress and medical staff started life-saving treatment. They also called emergency medical services who attempted to revive him, but George was pronounced dead at 4:39 p.m.
It’s the second death of an inmate in the main jail in the past year; Mark Van Beckner, 57, died Nov. 1 after suffering from internal bleeding caused by an arterial aortic aneurysm. Per sheriff’s spokesperson Ashley Keehn, there have been five in-custody deaths at the jail since 2019.
A grand jury report from June 2021 showed that Santa Cruz County saw 6.4 inmate deaths per 100,000 bookings from 2005 to 2019 — the seventh-lowest rate among California counties.
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