HANCOCK COUNTY — The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and the Marion County coroner have confirmed a man who was found unresponsive in a jail cell on July 9 died two weeks later.
Brandon Fisher, 32, Indianapolis, was found unconscious and not breathing in his cell not long after returning to the Hancock County Jail from a court appearance. Investigators said he had tried to hang himself. The last official report handed out by the sheriff’s department showed Fisher was listed in critical condition on Friday, July 10.
The sheriff’s department did not update Fisher’s status until late last week, when they learned Fisher had died July 25. He had been on life support at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis.
Marchele Hall, of the Marion County coroner’s office, said in an email to the Daily Reporter that the cause and manner of Fishers’ death are still pending, but that his body had been released to the Cremation Society of Indiana.
Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer for the sheriff’s department, said Fisher used a piece of the jail clothing he was wearing to hang himself in his cell. As a recent arrival at the jail — he had been arrested two days earlier — he was being kept in a cell by himself because of COVID-19 quarantining.
Jail officers who found Fisher in his cell late Thursday afternoon, July 9, immediately began resuscitation efforts, Harris said. Fisher was taken first to Hancock Regional Hospital and then was transferred to Eskenazi Hospital.
“He had almost no brain activity once he arrived at the hospital,” Harris said.
The sheriff’s department’s internal investigation noted that Fisher was seen by the jail’s nursing staff after his initial court appearance that afternoon, Harris said.
According to court records, Fisher was in court around 1 p.m., where a $5,000 bond was set after his arrest on July 7 on three felony charges.
Officials noted Fisher wasn’t acting oddly and checked out fine by medical staff at the jail before he was put into a cell by himself, Harris said.
A jailer who was dropping off a phone card to Fisher found him when he went to Fisher’s cell. Harris noted Fisher hadn’t been alone for long.
After conducting the investigation, jail officials determined no changes were necessary to protocols. No one was determined to be at fault or disciplined for the incident.
“It was just one of those things that unfortunately happened,” Harris said.
Jail commander Bridget Foy said authorities here were unaware Fisher had died until the Marion County coroner’s office notified them. Harris said Fisher was kept on life support because he was donating his organs and there were issues associated with the process that had to be worked out.
Foy said there was video surveillance within the block, but not inside Fishers’ cell. “He was in the cell by himself and he underwent the routine book-in procedures through medical,” she said in an email.
Fisher was arrested Tuesday, July 7, after being being pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy in the 5000 block of West U.S. 40 for an expired license plate.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Fisher at first gave a deputy a false first name, but the deputy soon learned his identity and that he was listed as a lifetime habitual traffic offender, meaning he was not allowed to be behind the wheel. While conducting a further search, deputies found a container that smelled of raw marijuana. They also found a loaded firearm that turned out to be stolen, the affidavit said.
Fisher also had an active warrant for a probation violation, court records show.
He was charged with a Level 5 felony count of operating a vehicle after losing his license for life; a Level 5 felony count of carrying a handgun with a prior felony conviction; a Level 6 felony count of theft of a firearm and a Class A misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
Officials from the prosecutor’s office noted that charges were still pending against Fisher because they had not received the proper documentation: a death certificate from Marion County.
