RUSSELLVILLE - A Pope County jail inmate arrested on charges of public intoxication and other misdemeanor offenses probably suffocated after hanging himself by tying his shirt to a cell door, the county coroner said Wednesday.
Authorities identified the inmate, who died early Tuesday, as Phillip Price, 45, of Russellville.
Sheriff Jay Winters declined to confirm or deny the hanging information provided by Coroner Leonard Krout. Winters said he wanted to await the results of a preliminary autopsy from the state crime laboratory.
Krout said Price had made a knot in his shirt and stuck it into a notch in the jail door.
Winters said Russellville police had brought Price to the jail at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday on charges of public intoxication, third-degree battery, second-degree terroristic threatening and first-degree criminal mischief.
"He was not overly belligerent, not physically combative, but he was not cooperative either," the sheriff said.
Winters said Price was placed in an isolation cell because he was being noisy. "He was checked every hour like he was supposed to be," Winters said.
"At 8 o'clock, he was still up and going. At 8:24 a.m., when they opened the door, he just kind of fell backward on the floor. He was leaning against the door, and he fell out onto the floor," Winters said. "He was unresponsive at that time."
Krout said the inmate was taken to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9 a.m.
Winters said Price had been in the jail once before for driving on a suspended license.
Arkansas, Pages 24 on 10/26/2007