Benton County Jail Inmate Died In April Of Drug Overdose

A Benton County Jail inmate who became unconscious and later died at the hospital ingested about seven kinds of drugs, said Rob Holly, chief deputy at the Benton County Sheriff's Office.

Jared Parks, 23, of Bentonville was found unconscious and discolored by jail staff just after 5 a.m. April 9, according to authorities. He was taken to Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, where he was placed on a ventilator.

Parks died a few days later when his family chose to remove him from the ventilator, Holly said.

Parks' body was sent to the State Crime Laboratory where a toxicology report was done and recently released to the Sheriff's Office, Holly said. The report revealed Parks died of an overdose. Drugs found in Parks' system included methadone and seizure medication, Holly said.

Parks had been arrested in connection with public intoxication and taken to the jail at 9 p.m. April 8. Deputies noticed Parks was acting strangely -- his eyes were dilated and his speech was slurred. A booking supervisor refused to book Parks into the jail until a doctor checked him out, Holly said.

A Bentonville police officer took Parks to the hospital where a doctor cleared Parks to be admitted into the jail, Holly said.

An intake deputy continued to check on Parks about every 15 minutes throughout the night and talked to him at about 4 a.m. the next morning. The deputy found Parks unresponsive about an hour later. Deputies started CPR and used a defibrillator on Parks until paramedics arrived.

Holly said jailers handled the incident appropriately and tried to save Parks. Staff took extra precautions by having Parks checked at the hospital then checking on him more frequently than usual, he said.

No internal changes to jail policy are planned because of Parks' death, Holly said. However, authorities are no longer taking inmates to Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville for care.

NW News on 09/18/2014

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