Prisoner at Pelican Bay State Prison may have hung himself

Johnny Owen Vick was serving a 21-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury

September 22, 2011 12:37 PM

By Megan Hansen
Eureka Times Standard

CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — A prisoner at Pelican Bay State Prison may have hanged himself Friday, according to call logs from the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Department.

Johnny Owen Vick, 30, was found unresponsive in his cell around 11:58 a.m. Friday. Lt. Christopher Acosta, spokesman for Pelican Bay State Prison, said prison medical staff provided treatment and an ambulance transported Vick to Sutter Coast Hospital. Acosta said Vick was pronounced dead at the hospital at 12:40 p.m.

Acosta declined to comment on Vick’s cause of death, pending results of an autopsy.

“We’re doing a joint investigation with the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office to determine the cause of death,” Acosta said.

Representatives with the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office said call logs on Friday stated an ambulance was called to the prison “for an inmate found hanging.”

Acosta said Vick has been at the prison since 2004, but was originally incarcerated in 2001. He said Vick was serving a 21-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury.

Corrections News