An inmate died Monday at the Iredell County Detention Center.
Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell, in a news release, said that Charles Lamont Stevenson was pronounced dead after being brought into the jail early Monday morning on drug charges.
Campbell said Stevenson was arrested by the Statesville Police Department for felony trafficking of illegal narcotics and other felony drug charges. A magistrate ordered him held without bond.
Stevenson was taken to a holding cell due to his aggressive and uncooperative behavior with detention officers, Campbell said. Shortly afterward, Campbell said, he excreted a package, later confirmed to contain fentanyl, from his rectum and then consumed the contents from the package. Within minutes he became unconscious, dropping the remains of the package on the floor, Campbell said.
He said detention officers came into the cell, began CPR and administered Narcan in an effort to revive Stevenson. The Statesville Fire Department and Iredell EMS responded and continued CPR to no avail.
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Detention officers and other first responders who had been exposed to the fentanyl had to be decontaminated by SFD personnel.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was called by Campbell to respond and conduct an investigation into this death as a matter of policy.
At the autopsy conducted at Wake Forest Baptist Health, an additional bag of powdery substance was collected from inside Stevenson’s body, and there were no other signs of trauma on his body, Campbell said.
“We extend our condolences to Mr. Stevenson’s family. I am also very proud of our detention officers and the Statesville Fire and EMS personnel who responded and risked being exposed themselves while attempting to save Mr. Stevenson,” he said.