Police investigating inmate’s death in the Benton County jail

Police are investigating what happened to an inmate who died in the Benton County jail Tuesday morning.

Details about the death of the unidentified man have not been released.

Medical help was called for an “unresponsive” man in the booking area about 11 a.m., county officials said in a news release. Kennewick firefighters, corrections officers and jail medical staff tried to revive the man, but he died in the booking area.

Investigators are still working to notify his family.

Benton County jail officials asked for the Regional Special Investigations Unit to handle the death investigation. The multi-agency organization uses detectives from Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties to look into deaths involving people in police custody.

Kennewick Commander Joe Santoy told the Tri-City Herald that the man was arrested by West Richland police earlier in the day.

The officers used some force to take him into custody, but the man was checked at a local hospital after his arrest and medical officials cleared him to be taken to the jail in Kennewick.

Santoy didn’t say how long the man was in the booking area before he was unresponsive.

But jail staff are not believed to have used force on the man while he was in jail.

Benton County Coroner Bill Leach said an autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday to determine why he died.