COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (AP) — An autopsy shows that a 24-year-old man who died last weekend in the Cottage Grove, Ore., Municipal Jail died of aspiration pneumonia.
The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/NfXenD) that Nathan Scott Cooper was sentenced April 26 on drug charges and booked into jail the same day.
Oregon State Police spokesman Lt. Gregg Hastings says Cooper was released the next day to receive medical treatment for drug withdrawal but failed to return and was re-arrested April 30.
Jailers found him dead in his cell early Saturday.
Deputy State Medical Examiner Dr. Dan Davis ruled Monday that Cooper died of aspiration pneumonia. That can occur when food or fluids are breathed into the lungs.
