Oak Harbor woman dies while in police custody in Yakima

She was described as a homeless 33-year-old African American with a history of mental illness.

  • By Jessie Stensland jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com
  • Wednesday, June 10, 2020 12:27pm
  • Local NewsNorthwest

By Jesse Stensland / Whidbey News Group

A special investigations unit is looking into an Oak Harbor woman who died after being taken to the hospital in a patrol car in Yakima last Wednesday, according to the Yakima Herald.

The police reported that Tiffany Alexis Eubanks, described by the Yakima Herald as a 33-year-old African American woman, had a mental health crisis and was taken into protective custody prior to her death.

Police responded to a report the night of June 2 that a woman was walking in and out of traffic.

When officers arrived, they found that medics were attempting to treat Eubanks, but she was combative, the Yakima Herald reported.

The police took Eubanks into protective custody. Instead of being transported to the hospital in an ambulance, the officers placed her in the back of a patrol car. She experienced a “medical crisis” on the way to Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital and was unresponsive upon arrival.

Medical personnel performed CPR on her inside the hospital, but she was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday.

The Yakima Herald reported Eubanks was homeless with a history of mental illness.

This story originally appeared in the South Whidbey Record, a sister publication to The Herald.

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