The FBI has launched a probe into the death of inmate David Stojcevski, who died in June 2014 in the custody of the Macomb County Jail while serving 30 days for a traffic ticket, WDIV reported Tuesday.
Kevin Dietz of WDIV first reported the story and aired a video showing the deterioration in the county jail of Stojcevski, 32.
The family filed a federal lawsuit in March alleging Stojcevski died after 17 days in custody as a result of neglect on the part of guards and medical staff, WDIV reports.
In a statement, Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said he had met with the FBI and provided them with the completed investigation, internal investigation and approximately 240 hours of in-cell video, WDIV reports.
"I promote transparency within my office and look forward to the findings of the F.B.I.,” Wickersham said. “Any death that occurs in the Macomb County Jail is tragic, not only to the family of the deceased, but to the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office who oversee the care and custody of our 1200 inmates daily. Due to the current lawsuit, I am unable to comment on the in-custody death."
Stojcevski was charged with obstruction of justice as part of careless driving charge. When he failed to pay the $772 fine last year, the judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail.
Dietz reports that Stojcevski man lost 50 pounds in 17 days and was in a high-observation unit and the cell was under 24-hour surveillance. A videotape shows his body twitching, as he goes into drug withdrawal, lying on the floor naked, and nothing was done. Prisoners in that unit can't wear clothes for their own protection.
The family lawsuit states that Stojcevski had been seeing a doctor to beat addiction and had been prescribed methadone, xanax and another medication. Without these drugs, the body can go into severe withdrawal, Dietz reports.
Dietz reports that a nurse evaluated him and recommended he be placed in a medical drug detox unit. Instead, he was put in a jail cell. Six days later, he was acting erratic and moved to a mental health cell and put under suicide watch where his activities were under video surveillance
Near the end, before he died, he was visibly thinner and no longer had the strength to call for help, Dietz reports. In his final two days of life, Dietz reports, Stojcevski never got off the cold cement floor in his cell and was gasping for his final breaths.
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