By Ray King
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods, Jr., on Monday, updated Deltaplex News on the state of the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Dezmen X. McBride, who had been locked up at the adult detention center before being taken to Jefferson Regional Hospital after complaining of not feeling well. He died at the hospital on June 5.
Woods was asked about the state of the investigation.
Woods said as a result of the death, a number of rumors have surfaced including one that McBride caught COVID while locked up, and other detainees have tried to claim symptoms including coughing up blood and chest pains, and those detainees were taken to the hospital where they were checked out before being taken to jail.
Before he died, McBride had been moved to a solitary cell and Woods was asked why,
McBride’s body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death and Woods said that there is currently an internal investigation which, based on what the medical examiner finds, could become a criminal investigation.
