From the Eureka Police Department:

On April 2nd at approximately 1:27 p.m., Officers from the Eureka Police Department responded to the area of Spring and Vance Street on a report of a suspicious male subject rolling around on the ground.  Upon arrival officers contacted the male who was exhibiting signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance.  The male subject who was alert and responsive to the officer’s questions, told them he had ingested a substantial amount of methamphetamine.  Officer’s arrested the male for public intoxication and transported him to the St. Joseph Hospital for medical clearance prior to booking him at the Humboldt County Jail.

The male was responsive when he arrived at the hospital, placed on wheelchair and taken into the emergency room.  The male subject then suffered a medical emergency and CPR  was started.  Medical personnel performed life savings efforts on the subject for over an  hour.  Their efforts were unsuccessful and the subject was pronounced deceased.

Since the male subject died while in police custody the Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team was called out to investigate the incident.

The subject’s name will not be released at this time pending notification of next of kin. 

This is an ongoing investigation and anyone with any information or may have witnessed the event is asked to contact the Eureka Police Department, Senior Detective Ron Harpham, at 441-4305.