By Katie Nelson
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE — There was no immediate sign of foul play or serious injury that could have caused the death of a man who died Monday while he was in custody at Santa Clara County Main Jail North, authorities revealed.
The autopsy for 33-year-old Walter Roches, who was found unresponsive in his cell Monday morning, did not “disclose a definitive cause of death,” according to a news release from Santa Clara County. The county coroner also did a separate investigation, the county stated.
County Executive Jeff Smith said in the release that “a complete autopsy” and other tests were performed. “At this point in the investigation, the autopsy did not disclose evidence of foul play or acute injury that would otherwise explain his tragic death,” he said.
Smith went on to say a final determination of how Roches died could take weeks.
Officials with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Roches had been forcibly removed from a cell days before his death and taken to the psychiatric ward in Main Jail North for suicide watch.
Officials said the “cell extraction,” done the week before, was “by the book,” which includes a six-step protocol starting with quiet coaxing and then escalating to jail deputies using pepper spray and plastic projectiles against an inmate with a history of attacking staff at other psychiatric facilities.
The removal was recorded by officials. It was reportedly sparked by the inmate threatening suicide, prompting officials to recommend his transfer.
In a breakdown of events provided by sheriff’s officials, a jail staffer reportedly talked to the inmate calmly for over an hour to try and get him to leave his cell. When he refused, jail officers used, in phases, pepper spray canisters, then higher concentrations of pepper spray shot into the cell, and three plastic projectiles from an air gun fired one minute apart. When all of those were deemed ineffective, three to four jail guards entered the cell unarmed, and handcuffed and brought him out.
Roches’ death is the third in-custody death since August. On Aug. 27, 31-year-old Michael Tyree was found brutally beaten, and three correctional officers -- Jereh Lubrin, Rafael Rodriguez and Matthew Farris -- face murder charges in connection with his death. All three have since posted bail, which was set at $1.5 million each.
On Aug. 31, four days after Tyree’s death, another inmate -- a woman identified as 50-year-old Noriko Seales -- died from natural causes, specifically a “stroke and hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” according to the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office. Seales, of Menlo Park, was being held on drug-related charges, according to authorities.