| Anderson Independent Mail
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating what happened to a man who died after suffering cardiac arrest while being served at the Anderson County Detention Center, officials said on Thursday.
Robert Dale Robertson, 55, of Easley, was being charged in prison on October 17 when he “suffered cardiac arrest after suffering a fall,” said Anderson County deputy coroner Don McCown, who is also investigating.
After Robertson’s collapse, detention center officers and a prison nurse began CPR, McCown said. Paramedics continued these efforts and Robertson was resurrected and taken to AnMed Health Medical Center. He was admitted to the intensive care unit and put on life support devices, McCown said. Robertson died in the hospital on Saturday, a week after his collapse in prison.
McCown said an autopsy done on Tuesday showed that Robertson “suffered a neck injury secondary to the fall”.
The Independent Mail and The Greenville News are seeking more information about the circumstances of Robertson’s arrest.
According to a brief incident report from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy found Robertson during a transit stop in State 81. According to the incident report, Robertson had a “white crystal substance that was discovered at seen by everyone “and tested in the positive field as meth.
The next line in the incident report says that Robertson was “taken into custody and transported to Anderson County Detention Center”.
The incident report provided to the newspapers makes no mention of Robertson’s collapse in prison and no mention of his death.
SLED was called in to investigate his death because Robertson was in the custody of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office when he suffered a cardiac arrest. The prison is administered by the Sheriff’s Office. It is common for the state’s top law enforcement agency to be called in to investigate the deaths of inmates or detainees in South Carolina.
The Sheriff’s Office also launched an internal investigation into the circumstances of the death of Robertson, the team’s sergeant. JT Foster said.
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Nikie Mayo is an investigative reporter. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @NikieMayo