By Natalie Neysa Alund
The News Sentinel
SEVIER, Tenn. -- An autopsy shows a Sevier County Jail inmate who died hours after going into police custody last month had overdosed on hydrocodone.
The report on Derek Lewis Pitts’ cause of death was prepared by Knox County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Steven Cogswell with the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville. Cogswell conducted the Feb. 5 autopsy at the request of Sevier County officials.
The autopsy also revealed Pitts had heart disease due to alcoholism.
In Cogswell’s autopsy report, he wrote that he found a blue granular substance in Pitts’ nose. Doctors had been awaiting toxicology reports to determine what it was.
Pitts, 47, of Knoxville was jailed Feb. 3 following a chase that started in Sevier County and ended in Knoxville, arrest warrants show. Authorities said Pitts appeared to be intoxicated at the time.
Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals said Pitts acted unruly as officers attempted to book him into jail. Later that evening, Pitts was found unconscious in his cell. He was transported to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
As part of standard protocol, Seals said he requested an autopsy be performed and that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigate the death.
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