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Lawrence County Inmate Found Dead In Cell, Indiana State Police Investigating

Last updated on Monday, October 23, 2017

(BEDFORD) - An inmate at the Lawrence County jail was found dead in his holding cell late Thursday night.

Indiana State Police are investigating the death of 37-year-old Reno Riggle.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Curt Durnil said on Sunday that an autopsy was performed on Friday.

"The autopsy results are pending at this time, however when those become available I will pass them along," he added.

Lawrence County Sheriff Mike Branham says there was no evidence of foul play. He had no further comments until ISP's investigation and LCPD's investigation are complete, according to the news release.

Riggle was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated while endangering a person, operating a vehicle with alcohol content more a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.15 percent, resisting law enforcement and invasion of privacy.

Inmate Found Dead In Cell

According to the Lawrence County Police log, Riggle was found unconscious in his cell by a jail officer at 12:28 a.m. on Friday. The jail officer requested an ambulance. The coroner, Rob Herr was requested to respond to the jail at 12:33 a.m.

At 12:53 a.m. an Indiana State Police detective was requested to respond to the jail.

The arrest

According to the Lawrence County Police log, at 6:58 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18th police were called to a home in the 850 block of State Road 458 after a call of an unwanted person.

The caller stated her ex (Riggle) was at the home and she had an active protective order in place preventing him from being at the home.

At 7:33 p.m. the log stated an officer was taking Riggle to IU Health Hospital for a blood draw for a possible operating a vehicle while intoxicated charge. They arrived at the hospital at 7:36 p.m.

At 2 a.m. Thursday Riggle was arrested on the OWI refusal charge with a prior conviction in five years, resisting arrest by force and invasion of privacy. Police did obtain a search warrant from the on-call judge to obtain the blood test. Riggle was then cleared by medical staff to be incarcerated due to his alcohol level.

Riggle was then again informed about the active protective order preventing him from being at the home on State Road 458 and was taken to jail.

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