Wyandotte County inmate dies after medical emergency, police say
An inmate in the Wyandotte County Detention Center died Wednesday after experiencing a medical emergency, according to the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s office staff responded to the Kansas City, Kansas detention center around 2:55 Thursday to one of the pods in the adult detention facility. Responding staff discovered that an inmate, a Black man in his 30s, was experiencing an emergency requiring life-saving measures.
Staff attempted to treat the man while contacting emergency medical responders. Upon responding, EMS transported the man to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The sheriff’s office did not elaborate on the nature of the medical emergency. The office also declined to release the name of the inmate, citing the need to speak with his family first.
The death is also being investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
The man was the latest of several Kansas inmates to die in custody in recent days. KBI and the Kansas Department of Corrections are also investigating a suspected homicide that occurred Tuesday at El Dorado Correctional Facility in El Dorado. Brooks Vonather, 40, was found unresponsive in his cell around 5 p.m. with multiple injuries, and was pronounced deceased shortly after.
On Monday, 26-year-old Kevyn Lopez was found dead in his cell at Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Hutchinson. Lopez was found unresponsive in his cell by officers in the morning; his cause of death is still under investigation.
There are currently 506 people incarcerated in the Wyandotte County Detention Center, according to sheriff’s office records.
