Garden City man dies while in custody at the Ada County Jail, coroner says
A 42-year-old Garden City man died while in custody at the Ada County Jail on Thursday, according to the Ada County Coroner’s Office.
The cause and manner of David McClure’s death are under investigation, according to the coroner’s news release. He was pronounced dead at 8:50 a.m. at the jail and an autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma. Toxicology results are pending.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and said it appears that McClure died in his sleep.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Patrick Orr said deputies booked McClure into the jail just after 5:30 p.m Wednesday, after the Boise Police Department brought him in on a failure to appear warrant.
“McClure showed no significant signs of physical distress or intoxication during his intake assessment, and was placed in the closed custody unit, which is where most inmates are held while staff determines their proper housing assignment,” Orr wrote in an email.
Deputies in the jail’s closed custody unit did a visual check on McClure every 30 minutes, which is standard operating procedure for management of inmates.
McClure was discovered to be unresponsive during the standing head count at 7 a.m. Thursday.
“Deputies and health services staff immediately began first aid, including CPR, and called for paramedics,” Orr said.
He said that McClure was pronounced dead “a short time later.”
Online court records show that McClure was cited for a misdemeanor for being in a park after dark or after closure on April 28, and when he failed to appear in court, a warrant was issued for his arrest. That warrant was the reason he was arrested.
The crime of being in a park after dark or after closure is a Boise municipal law, not a state law.
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 12:30 PM.
