A 24-year-old Alamo man arrested in Walnut Creek early Thursday morning was found dead in a “safety cell” at the Martinez Detention Facility hours later, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
Coroner’s officials identified the man Friday as David Bremer. No cause of death has been determined, a coronor’s office spokesman said, and an autopsy was conducted Friday with toxicology screening expected to take weeks.
Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee said Bremer was booked at the jail at about 1 a.m. after he was arrested in Walnut Creek for resisting arrest and a check revealed an oustanding warrant for battery and failure to make a court appearance. During processing, Lee said, Bremer reportedly made statements that he wished to do himself harm and he was placed into the safety cell and checked regularly.
Deputies found Bremer unresponsive in his cell at about 7:34 a.m. with medical staff immediately commencing life-saving measures, Lee said. An ambulance took the man to Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez where he was later pronounced dead, Lee said.
Both the Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office are investigating the death, established protocol for an in-custody death. He was initially arrested for resisting arrest and an outstanding warrant, according to police.
Officials noted that the death was the second at the Martinez facility in as a many days, with a 21-year-old Pleasanton man in custody on weapons charges apparently hanging himself in his cell.
