Pubdate: Fri,  5 May 2000
Source: Port St. Lucie News (FL)
Copyright: 2000 The E.W. Scripps Company
Contact:  1591 Port St. Lucie Blvd. Suite K Port St. Lucie, FL 34952
Website: http://www.tcpalm.com/portstlucie/
Author: Will Greenlee, News staff

INMATE DIES IN ST. LUCIE COUNTY JAIL

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - A 20-year-old St. Lucie County jail inmate died Thursday 
morning - possibly of an overdose - after fellow inmates noticed him in bed 
sweating and experiencing difficulty breathing.

Jason Daniel King, of 7402 Kenwood Road, died after being taken to Lawnwood 
Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce.

Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Diggs said he suspected "'strongly" that Jason 
King, who grew up in Fort Pierce and graduated from Martin County High 
School, died of an overdose of "'some medication."

He said the medical examiner's office is awaiting toxicology results, which 
will take seven to 10 days to complete.

"We didn't find anything unusual," he said. "No foul play has happened to him."

St. Lucie County Undersheriff Dennis Williams said the toxicology results 
"will dictate the direction that the investigation takes."

King was serving eight months at the Rock Road facility after being 
sentenced March 2 on drug charges.

Deputies arrested King on Sept. 21 after receiving a tip he was selling 
marijuana, a sheriff's report shows. He allowed deputies inside his home 
where he eventually turned over almost a pound of marijuana, most of which 
was hidden in a shoe box under his bed.

At the time, King allegedly said he"d been selling marijuana for "only the 
past few months'" to make enough money to buy a car to drive to work, 
according to the report.

King's mother, 44-year-old Lillie King, described her son as a "good boy" 
who enjoyed hanging out with his friends and listening to music in his 
spare time.

"He got arrested and he went to jail and now he's dead," she said. "I don't 
know why he died. The coroner said he was healthy, perfectly, perfectly 
healthy - no reason for him to die."

Born in Tampa, King had black hair, brown eyes and a serious girlfriend 
whom he planned to marry, Lillie King said outside her Lakewood Park home 
Thursday afternoon. Jason had a "passion" for reading and enjoyed Stephen 
King and Dean R. Koontz novels.

King's death was the third at the jail in the past four years.

In September 1998, guards found Gregory Herndon, 36, of Indian River 
Estates, hanging in his cell, the victim of an apparent suicide.

In December 1996, Anderson Tate, 22, of Fort Pierce died after being 
strapped into a restraint chair at the jail following his arrest. The Fort 
Pierce man apparently ingested cocaine rocks before being taken into custody.

He writhed and moaned for more than three hours in the chair, screaming 
that he was burning up from too much cocaine in his system. He eventually 
convulsed, then stopped breathing and died hours later at Lawnwood Regional 
Medical Center.

King, who will be buried Saturday at White City Cemetery & Mausoleum, has a 
21-year-old brother and a 24-year-old sister.

"Everybody loved him," Lillie King said.
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