Dallas County officials confirmed Tuesday evening that a man died in the county jail after tampering with his medical device.
DART police brought the 50-year-old man to the jail Monday night.
Sheriff's office spokesperson Doug Sisk said that around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday he was taken to Parkland Hospital.
He said DART police initially had medical concerns transporting the man, so they took him to Parkland first.
"They checked him out, and they gave him the clearance to be booked in the jail," Sisk said. "He was found in the holding area messing with this medical device and the medical personnel, at that point in time, started working with him and then they transport him to Parkland where he was pronounced deceased."
Sisk said the death is under investigation, though he said it was unclear which state agency would conduct it.
Commissioner John Wiley Price said the death could be a suicide.
"I inquired about a jail death and, more appropriately, what we call a suicide," he said. "And I was told that a local agency brought a gentleman into the facility and, apparently, this gentleman had a [tracheostomy tube], and he forcibly removed the trach."
The man's identity and the charges against him were not immediately made public.
A separate jail death was reported by Irving police on Tuesday.
A police statement reported that Patrick Jones, 32, had been arrested on an active theft warrant from Dallas County. Early Tuesday, a detention officer found him unresponsive in his cell.
The statement said that detention officers "immediately initiated life-saving measures. Jones was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office will conduct an autopsy and the death is under investigation.
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