Man who died in Box Elder jail was there for not paying a debt
http://www.standard.net/Courts/2016/02/14/Man-who-died-in-Box-Elder-jail-was-there-for-not-paying-a-debt?utm_content=buffereab32&utm_medium=social&utm _source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Rex Iverson died in a jail cell shortly after he was taken into custody, but he wasn’t there for a criminal act.
He was there on a civil judgment, for not paying a bill.
Jail and state court statistics and interviews with various officials in the justice system show that a debtor ending up behind bars is relatively rare, but Iverson’s case was instructive: Any Utahn who ignores a civil court judgment and subsequent court orders may end up incarcerated.
On Christmas Eve 2013, the Bear River City man incurred an ambulance bill. Tremonton City won a justice court small claims judgment against Iverson in September 2014 that compelled him to pay the city $2,376.92.
He never paid the bill and ignored repeated court orders to appear, court records show. That led to a county sheriff’s deputy, serving a $350 bench warrant issued by the justice court on Dec. 29, 2015, arresting him on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 23.
Iverson, 45, died in a Box Elder County Jail holding cell early that afternoon while jailers were elsewhere in the jail preparing for the booking process, the sheriff’s office said in a press release reporting the in-custody death. The death is under investigation by the Northern Utah Critical Incident Investigative Team, but foul play is not suspected.