EVERETT — Detectives are investigating the death of a man early Saturday morning at the Snohomish County Jail.
Mikhail Merlowicz, 25, of Sultan was arrested by Monroe police during a traffic stop about 10:15 Friday night, Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.
He reportedly didn’t follow the officer’s commands and resisted arrest. A pipe with some residue was found in the man’s car. He was arrested for investigation of obstructing police and for possession of drug paraphernalia.
At the time of arrest, Merlowicz didn’t show any signs that suggested he needed medical attention, Willis said.
While being booked into jail, he admitted to recent methamphetamine use, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. He was placed alone in a holding cell and showed signs of drug use, including sweating.
Merlowicz was interviewed by a nurse when he was first brought to jail and was checked on nine times in the 2 1/2 hours he spent in the holding cell, Hover said.
Any time a person in custody appears too ill or hurt to be in jail, that person is taken to a hospital. Jail staff found that Merlowicz’s condition did not require taking him to a hospital, Hover said.
Merlowicz was alert and cooperative while his fingerprints and photograph were taken during booking, Hover said.
“He was not considered to be on special watch, which is for people who may be suicidal or going through drug withdrawal,” she said. “The vast majority of people brought to the jail are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, so if that alone was the criteria, practically everyone would be under ‘special watch,’ ” she said.
Merlowicz was found unresponsive in the holding cell at 4:25 on Saturday morning. Jail staff performed CPR while the medics were on the way, but he could not be revived.
The Snohomish County medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy. The sheriff’s office is investigating the death. It oversees jail operations, a duty the department assumed in January.
Merlowicz’s cousin, Cinda Harris, 52, of Sultan, believes he didn’t have to die.
“He was a good kid. He was trying to get his stuff together,” she said.
Harris said she believes her cousin’s condition should have been monitored more closely while he was in jail.
Merlowicz has had trouble with the law before, according to court documents. He was charged in 2004 with drug possession after marijuana and methamphetamine were found in his car. He entered Drug Court in 2005. After struggling with the program for some time, he graduated in 2007 and the charge against him was dismissed.
The last death at the Snohomish County Jail was in 2006 when a man died of natural causes, Hover said. The man was held in the jail’s medical housing at the time. The medical housing is reserved for inmates too ill to remain with the general population.
Herald writer Diana Hefley contributed to this report.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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