Police have released the name of the man who died in custody on April 2. According to previous reports, Jeremy Edward Jenkins, 33, died from an unspecified medical emergency after being taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Officers said he “had ingested a substantial amount of methamphetamine.” Jenkins was a frequent name on the EPD’s arrest log, and was the subject of a rough arrest that took place just across from the Journal’s office in September, documented here.

Editor's note: A previous draft of this post said that Jenkins had suffered a heart attack. His cause of death has not been specified.

PREVIOUSLY:

A man died in Eureka police custody Saturday at a local hospital shortly after officers arrested him on suspicion of public intoxication.

The man had told officers he’d ingested “a substantial amount of methamphetamine,” according to an EPD press release, and officers took him to St. Joseph Hospital for a medical screening before booking him into the Humboldt County jail. The man was placed in a wheelchair and taken into the emergency room by hospital staff. He then suffered an unspecified “medical emergency,” life saving efforts were unsuccessful and he died.

Because the death occurred in police custody, it’s being investigated by the multi-agency Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team.

According to EPD’s press release, officers contacted the man — whose identity is being withheld until officials notify his family of his death — after receiving a report of a suspicious male rolling around on the ground near Spring and Vance streets. When officers arrived, they reported the man exhibited signs of being under the influence but was alert and responsive.


See the full EPD press release copied below:

On April 2nd at approximately 1:27 p.m., Officers from the Eureka Police Department responded to the area of Spring and Vance Street on a report of a suspicious male subject rolling around on the ground. Upon arrival officers contacted the male who was exhibiting signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance. The male subject who was alert and responsive to the officer’s questions, told them he had ingested a substantial amount of methamphetamine. Officer’s arrested the male for public intoxication and transported him to the St. Joseph Hospital for medical clearance prior to booking him at the Humboldt County Jail.

The male was responsive when he arrived at the hospital, placed on wheelchair and taken into the emergency room. The male subject then suffered a medical emergency and CPR was started. Medical personnel performed life savings efforts on the subject for over an hour. Their efforts were unsuccessful and the subject was pronounced deceased.

Since the male subject died while in police custody the Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team was called out to investigate the incident.

The subject’s name will not be released at this time pending notification of next of kin.

This is an ongoing investigation and anyone with any information or may have witnessed the event is asked to contact the Eureka Police Department, Senior Detective Ron Harpham, at 441-4305.