Robert Charles Cope II Dies After Incarceration in San Patricio County Sheriff’s Department

The San Patricio County Sheriff’s Department, in Sinton, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Robert Charles Cope II. Mr. Cope was only 42 years old at the time of his death. We provide in this post information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“Cope was arrested in Mathis Texas on 10/9/2022 for the offense of public intoxication and transported to the San Patricio County Jail where he was booked at 5:46 am and placed in detox. When Correctional Officers went to check on Cope, on one of their checks, on 10/10/2022 at approximately 01:14 am they found him laying down on the far left side of the cell with only his boxers on. When asking Cope questions he was mumbling to the point where Correctional Officers could not understand him. Jail medical was called and it was determined that Cope needed to be transported to the E.R. Near Cope a vape pen was found. Cope was transported to Dr. Regional ICU in Corpus Christi Texas by Allegiance EMS at 2:27am. Cope later passed away and was pronounced deceased at the hospital on 10/10/2022. When attending the autopsy we were told that Cope had meth and ecstasy in his system and the possible cause of death could be a heart issue and other medical issues. No trauma could be seen. Autopsy results and final report are pending.”

The listed medical cause of death was “had meth and ecstasy in system, possibly heart attack. Pending autopsy results.” One wonders, if the County jail was aware of Mr. Cope having meth and ecstasy in his system, whether any detox protocol was in place and/or implemented. Case law regarding constitutional rights indicates that it is insufficient to simply drop a person into a cell who is detoxing, without providing any medical care and/or applying an appropriate detox protocol. We do not know from information in the report whether this is in fact what occurred, but such an occurrence is unfortunately far too frequent in Texas jails.

The only listed charge for Mr. Cope was “public intoxication.” We likewise find when litigating inmate deaths across Texas, that such low level offenses tend to be common for people who die in our jails.

People incarcerated in Texas county jails have the right, pursuant to the United States Constitution, to receive reasonable medical care and to be protected from themselves and others. This right is generally guaranteed by the 14^th Amendment. If jailers, medical personnel, or arresting officers are deliberately indifferent to a person’s serious medical needs, and the person dies as a result, then certain surviving family members may be able to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. We are currently litigating a number of such suits across Texas.

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