The death of an inmate at the San Luis Obispo County Jail has been ruled accidental, according to a recently released coroner’s report.
Josey Richard Meche died while in custody in the early morning hours of March 12 after he was found waving a stick in someone’s yard on the evening of March 11. According to the coroner’s report, Meche, a transient who had a history of drug use and mental health issues, died of a methamphetamine-induced heart attack “with contributing factors of hyperthermia and a fatty infiltration of the heart muscle.”
Meche was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after being checked into the jail and, according to the report, “he did not appear to be in distress” when he was taken into custody. After reviewing video of the arrest, the coroner determined that Meche was taken in with only minor “passive resistance” and he did not “complain of any physical ailments.”
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 1, 2014.