A week after the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office announced that there were no known cases of coronavirus at the New Orleans jail, a man being held at the facility collapsed and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office on Tuesday confirmed that he was positive for COVID-19 at the time of his death.
Christian Freeman, the man who died in custody on June 25, was 35 years old. Jason Melancon, a spokesman for Coroner Dwight McKenna, said that Freeman was positive for the disease. But he said Freeman’s “cause and manner of death remain under investigation, pending additional studies and toxicology.”
He noted that preliminary findings showed Freeman had hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and there was no evidence of significant trauma.
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