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| Suffocation Cited in N.J. Jail Death |
| By Cherry Hill Courier-Post |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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A Gloucester County (N.J.) Jail inmate found dead shortly after he scuffled with corrections officers died from being in a position that blocked his breathing, an autopsy has concluded. But how Bernard A. King died from 'positional asphyxiation' - whether due to the way jail officers restrained him, his own exertion or body weight, or from drug use - remains under investigation, the county prosecutor's office said last week. Now that the county medical examiner has determined a cause of death and investigators have completed most of the necessary interviews, Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said, his office can soon determine how to move forward in the case. 'Once the medical findings have been finalized, they will be reviewed in light of the interviews,' he said. 'Following that, a determination will be made whether criminal conduct was involved.' King, a 25-year-old Lindenwold resident, stopped breathing April 9 while alone in a holding cell at the county jail in Woodbury, authorities said. He was handcuffed and his hands were shackled behind him because he had struggled repeatedly with jail officers, they said. He arrived at the jail at 3 a.m. after being arrested in Monroe for violation of a domestic violence restraining order obtained by his stepmother. King first created a disturbance at the jail among 28 inmates in a medical screening area sometime after 8 a.m., the prosecutor's office said. He struggled with jail officers who approached him, and continued to scuffle with them after being placed on an elevator, authorities said. |
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