Sheriff's report IDs woman who died in jail

Nathan Lederman, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·2 min read

Aug. 19—An inmate who died in custody Tuesday — less than a day after being booked into the Santa Fe County jail — has been identified as Andrea Deleon.

An incident report the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office released Friday did not indicate her cause of death. A representative for the state Office of the Medical Investigator said it is listed as open and pending within the department's system.

Prior to her arrival at the facility, Deleon, 39, was charged with two counts of battery upon a health care worker and one count of assault upon a health care worker, according to court records.

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday states Deleon kicked a nurse and spit on a security guard Monday while being admitted into Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

The complaint did not include why Deleon was taken to the hospital.

Arturo Delgado, a spokesman for Christus St. Vincent, could not be reached for comment.

According to the complaint, Deleon was kicking and swinging at paramedics from the moment she entered the facility. She made contact with a nurse's hip and thigh.

A security guard witnessed the incident, and tried to help the nurse restrain Deleon to a bed, according to the complaint. Deleon then proceeded to spit on the guard's right hand and tried to bite him several times.

Deleon's actions at the hospital resulted in her arrest Monday night. She was booked into the Santa Fe County jail at 12:37 a.m. Tuesday, according to jail records.

On Tuesday afternoon, at about 2:35 p.m, Deleon was taken back to her cell following a video arraignment, according to the incident report. An officer at the jail checked on her at about 2:58 p.m., and saw Deleon lying on her bed.

However, 19 minutes later, the officer found Deleon on the floor of her cell. He went in to check on her, and found she was unconscious and not breathing, according to the incident report.

Emergency medical services stopped trying to revive Deleon at about 4:15 p.m., according to the report, and an investigator for OMI listed her time of death as 5:20 p.m Tuesday.