Authorities ID detainee who died in Cobb Sheriff's Office custody
May 24—Authorities have identified the man they say died in Cobb Sheriff's Office custody on Sunday.
Brady Allen, of Kennesaw, died Sunday morning after initially being placed in a holding cell on Saturday evening on criminal trespassing charges, according to Saba Long, a spokesperson for the Cobb County Sheriff's Office.
Officials said deputies restrained Allen on Saturday evening after he "became destructive and combative and attacked deputies, causing them injuries."
Deputies had attempted to stop him with a taser, "but that did not work," Long said Monday.
"He was eventually restrained by deputies but was never cuffed," she said.
Authorities said use of a substance could explain his behavior, but no cause of death had been given as of Monday afternoon. The sheriff's office is awaiting results of a pathology report.
"Given the detainee's aggressive behavior towards the deputies and medical staff and the sheer force with which he attacked them, there is reason to believe he may have been under the influence of a substance," according to a sheriff's office release on Sunday.
An arrest warrant for Allen, which charges him with misdemeanor criminal trespassing, says he'd showed up uninvited at a home on Acworth Due West Road in Kennesaw around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and been told to leave. The homeowner saw Allen on a Ring doorbell camera, the warrant states.
The document says Allen did not leave "and even went swimming in the victim's pool," before his arrest.
Long said Allen was not inside the jail at the time of his death. He was either being transported to the hospital or had arrived at the hospital when he died. She said Allen was transported to the hospital when "he appeared unresponsive as (deputies) were attempting to restrain him."
It is so far unclear exactly what happened between the incidents on Saturday evening and Allen's death around 9:40 a.m. Sunday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation began an investigation at the request of Sheriff Craig Owens, and Allen's next of kin were notified Sunday afternoon.
Sunday's death is the second under Owens' watch, since he took office as sheriff in January.
The first was an apparent suicide last month. The inmate died on April 29, a day after his suicide attempt, according to authorities.
In that instance, the hospital's ethics committee agreed to a do-not-resuscitate order "given the nature of his medical condition," Long said at the time.
Owens unseated longtime Sheriff Neil Warren in last year's election after a series of deaths at the detention center under Warren's watch became a focal point of Owens' campaign. Owens vowed to improve policies and procedures at the detention center and ask the GBI to look into any deaths among inmates in his custody.
Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/MDJThomas.
