Oklahoma County jail inmate dies Monday, two months after arrest in fatal collision
Oklahoma County has had its first jail death of 2024.
Murder defendant Derek Raymond Strother, 31, was found unresponsive in his cell about 8:20 a.m. Monday, the jail said in a news release. He was transferred to a hospital but died despite attempts at the jail to revive him.
He had been locked up since Dec. 18, the day after a fatal collision in northeast Oklahoma City.
He was accused in a second-degree murder case of driving under the influence of alcohol and causing another driver's death.
Oklahoma County jail has had 40-plus detainees die since July 2020
The jail has had more than 40 deaths since a trust took over its operation on July 1, 2020.
There were only seven deaths last year, a drop that came after new steps were taken in the wake of intense criticism of the trust.
A yearlong investigation by The Oklahoman found the jail had become one of the deadliest in the United States. The state's multicounty grand jury in March called for the trust to be dissolved, saying many of the deaths were preventable.
The multicounty grand jury blamed "inadequate staffing, funding, surveillance and training, coupled with poor law enforcement protocols," for the significant loss of life within the jail.
Funding continues to be an issue. Philanthropist Sue Ann Arnall, the last of the original trust members, quit last week out of frustration over funding.
More: Oklahoma County commissioners choose Grand Boulevard land as jail's new home
"My pleas to the county to adequately fund the jail have fallen on deaf ears for too long," she wrote in her resignation notice.
A fourth of the inmate deaths under the trust have been determined to be drug-related. In its news release, the jail reported Strother was administered Narcan on Monday after being found unresponsive. Narcan is the brand name of an anti-overdose medication.
Strother is listed in jail records as living in Guthrie. Police reported he was driving Dec. 17 at a high rate of speed and left of center as he approached a red light. He collided in the intersection with a pickup.
Killed was Myreon Lacey, 51.
Strother admitted at the hospital Dec. 17 that he had consumed alcohol, marijuana and Kratom before driving, according to an affidavit. Kratom is a herbal substance.
More: Oklahoma state prisons plagued by violence, one of the highest homicide rates in the nation
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma County jail reports first inmate death of 2024
