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Sheriff’s office investigating woman’s death at jail

Posted on May 20, 2010May 20, 2010 by Susan Dickson

BY SUSAN DICKSON
Staff Writer

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has launched an internal investigation into the death of a woman at the Orange County Jail shortly after her arrest on May 7.

Margaret Dale Kersey, 58, died less than 15 minutes after arriving at the jail.

“What I’m investigating is what happened when [they] arrived at the jail,” Capt. Archie Daniel said. “So far I haven’t found where we deviated from our policy.”

Orange County deputies had responded to a 911 call from Kersey’s sister, who said Kersey was intoxicated and causing a disturbance and that she had asked her to leave. The deputies told Kersey she would be arrested for trespassing if she did not leave, and Kersey refused to do so. After being arrested on trespassing charges, Kersey changed her clothes before walking to the patrol car.

Daniel said Kersey fell asleep in the car and was groggy when the officers woke her upon arrival at the jail. They assisted her into the jail, where she was placed in a holding cell at 12:49 a.m. The arresting officer meanwhile obtained a magistrate’s order. At 1:13 a.m., jail staff noticed that Kersey appeared unresponsive and called EMS, who were unable to revive her.

According to Daniel, under department policy, jail officials cannot admit someone who is severely intoxicated. He said he hasn’t found any indication that jail officials violated policy, adding, “We are looking at other things and making sure that everything lines up.”

Daniel said he is waiting on the toxicology report from the medical examiner’s office, which could take up to five weeks.

“We want to know what this lady had in her system, anything that would raise our attention, and until we have the total picture we really can’t talk about it,” he said.

Daniel said the officers involved in the incident have not been suspended from duty.

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