Kentucky State Police reports male found unresponsive at Marshall County Jail has died

UPDATE:
Kentucky State Police announced on Tuesday that the inmate found unresponsive in Marshall County has died.

In a release, the agency reported that 35-year-old Kendrick Owens of Benton died at a hospital on Saturday. Owens had been transferred to a hospital in Louisville from Marshall County after becoming unresponsive following his booking into the jail on Thursday, August 13th. An autopsy was performed along with toxicology tests. The results of both are pending.

The case remains under investigation.



Original Story:
Kentucky State Police are investigating after a male in custody at the Marshall County Jail was found unresponsive.

The male, identified as 35-year-old Kendrick Owens of Benton, was arrested and taken to the jail Thursday morning. After being booked into the facility, Owens is said to have become unresponsive, and jail officials called for medical help.

The Marshall County Ambulance Service arrived and took Owens to Marshall County Hospital before he was transferred to a hospital in Louisville, where he was listed as critical at last report.

Kentucky State Police at Post 1 said they were called in by Marshall County Sheriff Matt Hilbrecht. In turn, KSP brought in the Critical Incident Response Team to investigate the interactions with Owens.

The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office reported they were called about 7:20 a.m. Thursday about a man screaming and behaving “erratically” as he walked through yards off Delaware Drive in the Cumberland Heights neighborhood in Gilbertsville. An off-duty McCracken County Sheriff’s deputy who lives nearby was the first on the scene and detained the man, later identified as Owens.

They believed he was under the influence of a substance and tried to de-escalate. Deputies said Owens would not cooperate or comply with them, and when they tried to arrest him, he resisted and fought back.  

Owens was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, third-degree assault, and public intoxication.

In addition to the KSP investigation, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office will conduct what it describes as an “administrative investigation.”


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