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Autopsy fails to find cause of death for Big Isle man in police custody

An autopsy on a 46-year-old man who died while in police custody on Hawaii island on Monday was not able to determine the man’s cause of death, Hawaii County police said.

The autopsy was conducted Wednesday and the cause of death was pending toxicology results.

Jonathan Watson, of Kau, died outside a house in the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates subdivision after police detained him.

Police said officers responded to the 92-2600 block of Hukilau Drive after a man called police about 9:50 a.m. Monday and said he had been shot. When officers arrived, Watson came out of the house with a bandage on his left leg and began fighting with the officers, police said.

The officers took Watson into custody and he soon became unresponsive. Police began CPR and turned over medical care to firefighters who responded a few minutes later, but Watson did not recover. He was taken to Kona Community Hospital and was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m. Monday.

Police have opened an administrative investigation into Watson’s death.

The medical examiner determined that Watson had a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his left leg.

Police said the investigation indicates that Watson’s wound was most likely accidental and self-inflicted.

One response to “Autopsy fails to find cause of death for Big Isle man in police custody”

  1. saywhatyouthink says:

    I’m betting they choked or beat him into submission and unintentionally killed him. They’re now scrambling to find some other reason to blame like drugs.
    Couldn’t possibly have been excessive force eh, of course not.

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