The Nevada State Medical Examiner's Office ruled that the inmate was killed by corrections officers after he was pepper-sprayed, shackled and restrained with his face pressed against the ground.
According to an autopsy report, the death of 39-year-old Patrick O'Dell at Southern Desert Correctional Center on Dec. 28, 2023, has been ruled a homicide, The Associated Press reported.
The autopsy report was completed in late August after a nearly nine-month investigation by the Clark County Medical Examiner's Office into O'Dell's death, which occurred at a medium-security prison near Las Vegas.
The report said O'Dell died from “positional and mechanical asphyxiation while in police custody.”
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(This undated photo provided by Amy Estrada shows Patrick O'Dell in North Las Vegas, Nevada. (Amy Estrada via The Associated Press))
Michael Freeman, a forensic expert from Oregon who was not involved in the investigation, told The Associated Press that “mechanical positional asphyxiation” typically occurs when a person is restrained face-down with their hands behind their back, putting pressure on the torso, arms and neck.
The report also noted that O'Dell had traces of methamphetamine and the animal sedative xylazine in his system, which the coroner's office said were the “primary cause” of his death.
When the Nevada Department of Corrections announced O'Dell's death in a news release in January, it did not provide details indicating the inmate had been restrained.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Nevada Department of Corrections for comment.
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Patrick O'Dell died on December 28, 2023, at the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Nevada. (Google Maps)
The department told The Associated Press it could not comment because the matter remains “under investigation.”
It is not clear how many officers were involved in O'Dell's death, whether any of the officers received disciplinary action or how O'Dell was able to obtain drugs while in custody.
According to court records obtained by The Associated Press, a corrections officer was arrested in May as part of what authorities call a “contraband crackdown” for bringing cigarettes, lighters, cellphones, e-cigarettes, tobacco and liquid Spice into the facility.
O'Dell faces up to two years in prison in early 2023 for possession of a stolen credit card and carrying a concealed weapon.
According to the autopsy, officers reported that O'Dell was “erratic and growling at officers” on the night he died.
The report said officers pepper-sprayed O'Dell and locked him in a shed with garden tools for several minutes before he “ran wildly around the room.”
Officers then allegedly dragged him to the ground, restrained him and took him to the prison infirmary.
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The Clark County Coroner's Office reported that Patrick O'Dell was given several doses of Narcan before he died. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Throughout the ordeal, medical staff and prison officials administered Narcan to O'Dell several times.
The coroner's office reviewed video of the incident to determine the cause and manner of death, but the autopsy report said there may be gaps in the video footage.
The coroner said the footage showed Mr O'Dell moaning as he was carried to the medical room and also showed him lying face down with his hands bound behind his back.
The coroner then said “video footage resumed a short time later,” showing staff administering CPR to the unresponsive Mr O'Dell.
“When the video resumed, the inmate was lying on his back with his hands restrained in front of him,” the autopsy report states, meaning the inmate's hands were no longer restrained behind his back but in front of his body.
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O'Dell was pronounced dead a short time later.
The coroner determined that O'Dell died from being restrained in a way that made it difficult for him to breathe and from the effects of recent drug use.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
