KAUFMAN, Texas — The Texas Rangers are investigating an inmate’s death after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the Kaufman County Jail.
51-year-old Chauncey Elmer Toombs had been arrested by the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office on April 12, 2022, on a charge for violating a protective order and was in the process of being booked into the Kaufman County Jail at the time of his death.
According to a custodial death report filed by the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office with the State of Texas, Toombs had made suicidal statements, exhibited mental health problems, and reportedly had medical issues.
Toombs was discovered unresponsive in his holding cell on April 13, 2022, according to the report, and had apparently hung himself with gauze fashioned as a ligature from the handicap assistance bar in his cell.
Jail personnel, upon the discovery, immediately began life-saving measures and contacted EMS. Toombs was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 8:39 p.m. His body was taken to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Toombs’ protective order was related to a pending family violence case in Kaufman County. At the time of his arrest on April 12, a law enforcement source close to the investigation tells inForney.com Toombs had allegedly caused a self-inflicted wound to his arm which required medical treatment.
Toombs was transported to a Kaufman hospital, then to a Dallas-area hospital, and was eventually released back into the custody of the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office. The source says Toombs allegedly used the bandages from that medical treatment to fashion the ligature.
He was still being held in a pre-booking holding cell when he was found unresponsive.
“If Mr. Toombs was suicidal, there would have been no excuse to leave him in a cell, with things with which he could form a ligature, and without continuous observation,” states Dallas-attorney Dean Malone, whose firm originally requested and obtained the custodial death report through open records with the state. “Prisoners in Texas jails use clothing, sheets, mattresses, phone cords, and similar items as ligatures to commit suicide. This is well-known by jailers, jail administrators, and sheriffs.”
“Our law firm is handling a number of jail suicide cases across Texas, yet we are continually surprised to see suicides when jail personnel are aware of suicidal tendencies,” continued Malone. “Suicidal inmates need continuous observation, and they should never be left in a cell with items with which they can form ligatures.”
“Texas jailers and other jail personnel have constitutional duties to protect arrestees from self-harm tendencies,” he says. “These duties usually arise under the 14th Amendment.”
The Texas Rangers are investigating the death, as is standard procedure with any in-custody death, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Scott Whitaker confirmed to inForney.com.
No further information was available due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, says Whitaker.