A 55-year-old man died at the Mecklenburg County Jail one day after being taken into custody, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Emerson Healy was found unresponsive in his cell at the uptown facility around 2:52 p.m., according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office. After first responders performed CPR, Healy was transported to Atrium Health, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office did not provide a cause of death in its statement.
Healy arrived at the jail Monday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was arrested by G4S Special Police on Monday and charged with six counts of carrying a concealed weapon and one count of failure to provide proof of proper fare, according to the Sheriff’s Office website.
G4S provides security for the Charlotte Area Transit System.
As in previous cases, the State Bureau of Investigation will investigate Healy’s death, while the county medical examiner determines the cause, the Sheriff’s Office said.
He is the third in-custody death at the jail this year. Since 2008, 24 people have died while in custody there, including five in 2018 and three last year, according to Sheriff’s Office data.
Recent deaths at Mecklenburg jails
▪ John Devin Haley, 41, was found unconscious in his cell just before 11 a.m. on May 22, according to the sheriff. Jail medical staff performed CPR, but Haley was declared dead 15 minutes later, McFadden said. No signs of foul play were found, and “all preliminary reports indicate suicide,” according to the sheriff’s statement.
Haley had been held at the jail on federal charges since April 3, officials said.
According to his obituary, Haley had struggled with addiction and mental health issues.
▪ Karon Golightly, 20, was found unresponsive at 9:58 a.m. on May 14. First responders tried to revive him, but Golightly died at a hospital.
Golightly was brought to the detention center on Oct. 31, 2019, and processed on state and federal charges related to a string of robberies at three Charlotte-area Target stores, the Observer previously reported.
▪ On Nov. 21, a 17-year-old identified as Desmond W. from Rockingham County died by suicide, according to Rodney Collins, chief deputy with the Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Office.
Collins said a jail detention officer discovered the teenager unresponsive in his cell, the Observer previously reported. Jail medical staffers and first-responders performed CPR but were unable to revive him. The Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Office said there were no signs of foul play.
Staff writers Joe Marusak, Michael Gordon, Jonathan Limehouse and Ames Alexander contributed to this report.