{"id":100173,"date":"2018-04-25T17:11:03","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T23:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blood-clot-caused-inmates-death-at-la-plata-county-jail\/"},"modified":"2018-04-25T17:11:03","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T23:11:03","slug":"blood-clot-caused-inmates-death-at-la-plata-county-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blood-clot-caused-inmates-death-at-la-plata-county-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood clot caused inmate\u2019s death at La Plata County Jail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lucero\"
Lucero<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A 26-year-old man who died last November in the La Plata County Jail suffered a bruise that led to a blood clot that ultimately caused his death, but authorities are unsure how the man became injured.<\/p>\n

Vicente Lucero was let out of his cell the morning of Nov. 3 and, soon after, collapsed in a common area of the cellblock. He was pronounced dead at Mercy Regional Medical Center about 7:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Lucero was being held on suspicion of burglary and assault after reportedly walking naked and threatening to kill people in the 8100 block of County Road 203, north of Durango in the Animas Valley.<\/p>\n

When deputies responded, Lucero ran into a woman\u2019s house and locked the door. When she ran out the back door, he threw the woman against a post, which resulted in injuries to the woman that required hospitalization.<\/p>\n

Lucero then fled the house and ran to Hermosa Creek. He sat in the middle of the creek for 20 minutes before he was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Lucero was in jail for eight days before he collapsed.<\/p>\n

According to a final autopsy report, a bruise on his leg formed a blood clot and then moved into his lungs. La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith ruled the death natural.<\/p>\n

Smith said there was no record of Lucero having bruises at the time he was booked into La Plata County Jail. She said it appeared the bruises had been there for a few days before Lucero collapsed and died.<\/p>\n

Authorities reviewed surveillance footage from a motion-activated camera of Lucero\u2019s entire eight-day incarceration, said La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith.<\/p>\n

Because the death occurred at the La Plata County Jail, which is run by the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office, investigators with the Durango Police Department and Coroner\u2019s Office reviewed the tapes.<\/p>\n

During that time, there was no evidence indicating how Lucero got the bruises that led to his death, Coroner Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never had an interaction with any other prisoner,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

While not technically in \u201csolitary confinement,\u201d Sheriff Smith said Lucero was kept away from other prisoners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was dealing with mental health issues at the time of his arrival (to the jail),\u201d Sheriff Smith said.<\/p>\n

The sheriff said authorities tried to get Lucero care elsewhere, but he declined to comment further on the matter.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage showed that Lucero bumped into objects in his cell, like the bed frame, Coroner Smith said. It\u2019s possible even a small bruise could result in a blood clot and lead to life-threatening circumstances, the coroner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can fall down and get a bad bruise, and most of the times it won\u2019t clot,\u201d she said. \u201cBut sometimes it does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the coroner said investigators were unable to pinpoint how Lucero received the bruises.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if there was any period of time that Lucero was in a position to not be caught on camera.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Smith said there are motion-activated cameras in the jail. He also said the jail was switching out an old camera system to a new system. But even then, he insisted if a camera was down in one section of the jail, another camera was able to capture the goings-on.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Smith said the independent review cleared jail staff of any possible wrongdoing in Lucero\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The toxicology report showed Lucero had traces of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in his system at the time of his death, but authorities don\u2019t believe that contributed to his death.<\/p>\n

No other drugs or alcohol were found in his system.<\/p>\n

The coroner said investigators did not see Lucero use marijuana during the eight-day, around-the-clock surveillance footage. But she said it\u2019s unlikely the THC was from before he was booked, given the levels that were found in his system.<\/p>\n

Prisoners were able to come up to his jail cell, she said. But investigators don\u2019t know where the marijuana came from.<\/p>\n

Lucero\u2019s wife, Rosa, said in a previous interview that her husband suffered from manic depression and bipolar disorder. In October, his mother suffered a stroke and his medication was changed, she said.<\/p>\n

Rosa Lucero could not be reached for comment Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good, wonderful, playful person,\u201d she said in November. \u201cHe had a heart of gold. Every time I was sad, he would try to make me laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investigators don\u2019t know how man got bruise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1024],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-la-plata-county-jail"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100173"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}