LUCERNE ? According to a press release provided by Captain James Bauman, public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO), On April 10 at about 10:20 p.m., sheriff”s deputies responded to the area of 14th Avenue and Highway 20 in Lucerne on a report of a possible physical disturbance involving two men.
It was first reported that one man was on top of another, however while deputies were still responding, further information came in that one of the men had passed out and the other was trying to help him up.
Medics from the Northshore Fire Protection District were dispatched at the request of one of the responding deputies.
When deputies arrived, they located 45-year-old Jimmy Lee Clevidence of Lucerne lying on the sidewalk.
Clevidence was extremely intoxicated and unable to stand on his own. A friend of Clevidence”s, identified as 29-year-old Antonio Lewis Avelos also of Lucerne, was with Clevidence when deputies arrived. Avelos told deputies he was in the area when he saw Clevidence fall and hit the sidewalk due to his intoxication. Avelos was in the process of helping Clevidence when deputies arrived.
Northshore medics evaluated Clevidence at the scene of the fall and released him to the deputies. He was then arrested for public intoxication as he was unable to care for his own safety and transported to the Lake County Jail.
Upon his arrival at the jail, medical staff there determined Clevidence would have to be medically cleared prior to booking due to his level of intoxication. He was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where he was examined and cleared for booking. He was booked for misdemeanor public intoxication and was to be released when sober enough to care for his own safety.
After approximately four hours of being detained and checked every 15 minutes in a sobering cell at the jail, custody officers were conducting their observation check on Clevidence at 4:20 a.m. and could not get him to respond verbally. Jail medical staff were called to the cell and it was determined Clevidence needed to go back to the hospital. Medics from the Lakeport Fire District responded and transported Clevidence back to Sutter Lakeside accompanied by custody staff.
At about 7:40 a.m., Clevidence was released. Clevidence apparently took a turn for the worse later that morning while still admitted at Sutter Lakeside and was flown via air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He remained in Santa Rosa Memorial”s critical care unit since being admitted on April 11 and on April 21 at about 5 p.m. he died.
Incident to his death, The Lake County Sheriff”s Department started getting unverified information that Clevidence may have been assaulted prior to being arrested on April 11.
Pending further investigation into those claims, the Lake County Sheriff”s Department requested jurisdiction over coroner”s investigation to determine his cause of death and on Thursday morning, an autopsy was performed at the Napa County Coroner”s Office. The resulting cause of his death has been determined to be acute respiratory failure due to a blunt force injury to the head. The manner of death is currently believed to be accidental due to a mechanical fall.
Sheriff”s detectives have interviewed as many as eight Lucerne residents since Wednesday morning and thus far, no one has been able to verify any assault occurred. The case remains pending further investigation.
