A man being held in the DeKalb County Jail died from an apparent suicide four days after he was arrested, officials said Monday.
Jaquay Smith, 21, of Stone Mountain, was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday, a DeKalb sheriff’s office spokesperson said. Jail staff and DeKalb Fire Rescue immediately began performing emergency medical services, but Smith was pronounced dead once he arrived at Grady Memorial Hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
Smith was arrested without incident Tuesday on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon and armed robbery in a November 2021 incident, according to online records. He was being held at the jail without bond.
The sheriff’s office has not received the medical examiner’s report or been notified of Smith’s cause of death. The incident remains under investigation.
Saturday’s incident is not the first of its kind to occur at the DeKalb jail recently. On Dec. 16, 47-year-old Elnan Edinson Oganda of Doraville was found unresponsive from an apparent suicide in his cell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. He was arrested six days prior and charged with aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, child molestation and sexual battery.
Most recently, a Coweta County jail inmate was found unconscious in his cell Jan. 1. The man appeared to be suffering from “self-inflicted” injuries, the sheriff’s office said at the time. He was rushed to Piedmont Newnan Hospital, where he died.
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