Jail inmate dies after restrained by officers

By Quan Truong

Cincinnati Enquirer

BATAVIA

An inmate at the Clermont County Jail died Saturday morning after he reportedly became disruptive and was subdued by jail officials.

Jason Vdovick, 29, of Milford was serving a six-day sentence for drunken driving, according to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.

Vdovick was on his third day of being held and was in the cell alone when he started knocking on the cell door and yelling around 7:45 a.m. Saturday, Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg said.

A jail supervisor apparently tried to verbally calm him down, but when it didn’t seem to work, officers went into the cell and physically subdued him.

“He had to be physically restrained. As far as exactly what was done, how it was done and who did it are all part of the investigation,” Rodenberg said. “I can’t discuss any of that at this point until the investigation is complete.”

From the initial report, it seems the entire thing only lasted a matter of minutes, he said.

Vdovick then became limp and unresponsive. He was taken to Clermont Mercy Hospital, where he died about 9 a.m.

It was unclear how many officers were needed to subdue Vdovick, who Rodenberg believes weighed about 300 pounds. No staff has been placed on leave because there’s no indication of wrongdoing, he said.

The autopsy and investigation is expected to take at least several days and likely won’t be complete until the middle or end of next week. It will be handled by the Sheriff’s Office, the Clermont County Coroner’s Office, and the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

Aside from a few traffic-related offenses, court records show that Vdovick does not have a criminal history in any of the local Ohio counties.

“I don’t know why he became disruptive; he was supposed to be out in three days,” Rodenberg said.

“He could have just become nervous, anxious or disoriented about being confined. We’re very sorry this happened. We don’t want to bring anyone into our jail and have them die there. It’s really unfortunate.”