BEND, OR -- The Oregon Department of Justice is looking into whether the Deschutes County Sheriff's Department did anything wrong when an inmate died in its custody last December.
31-year old Edwin Mays died of a methamphetamine overdose. But release of the jail video of that night raises questions whether deputies did all they could to prevent his death. Sheriff Larry Blanton says this is a difficult time for the department. "First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the Mays family. Not a good time for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. I can think of a lot of time personally and professionally I wish I could have a do over a mulligan, coulda woulda, shoulda."
"You know we're not perfect. We'll learn from this experience and move on. We deal with difficult situations. We have a difficult job. We're analyzing and assessing in split seconds what we do for a living," Blanton told KBND News.
Mays died in Deschutes County custody December 14th after being arrested for heroin possession.