San Diego man, 33, 'choked to death on a face mask while in a holding cell at a county jail'

Omar Moreno Arroyo (pictured), 33, of California, who was being held in a county jail on a drug charge in January choked to death on a face mask, according to an autopsy

A California man who was being held in a county jail on a drug charge reportedly choked to death on a face mask as his widow claimed that police sealed the case within hours of his death and refused to tell her what happened. 

Omar Moreno Arroyo was being held at the San Diego County Jail in January while awaiting release on a charge of being under the influence of drugs, the San Diego Union Tribune reported on Tuesday. 

His wife, Tammy Wilson, said they were at home when she called 911 on the morning of January 6 because Arroyo was acting strangely and wouldn’t let her take him to a hospital. 

The 33-year-old was then arrested by sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of being under the influence of methamphetamine. 

He died in a holding cell just before midnight. 

The medical examiner ruled that Arroyo died from accidental asphyxiation, with acute methamphetamine intoxication as contributing factor, according to a statement from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. 

According to the medical examiner, Arroyo choked on a mask and could not be resuscitated despite aggressive life-saving measures from paramedics. 

‘There were no illicit drugs, no prescription medications, no alcoholic beverages, no tobacco products, and no notes of a suicidal nature found,’ Medical Examiner Investigator Scott Morrison wrote in a report with the autopsy.  

His wife, Tammy Wilson (left), said she called 911 on the morning of January 6 because Arroyo (right) was acting strangely and wouldn’t let her take him to a hospital. She is claiming that hours after he died, police sealed his case and refused to tell her what happened 

Arroyo’s death has been ruled an accident. It’s unclear why Arroyo was taken to jail since under the ‘zero bail’ policy, which reduces jail populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities are supposed to cite people for certain crimes instead of jailing them. 

For this particular offense, Arroyo should have been cited and not taken to jail. 

Following his death, Wilson claimed that that the Sheriff’s Department had sealed the case within hours of her husband’s death. She said they also refused to tell her what happened. 

According to the medical examiner’s report, obtained by the Tribune, a sheriff’s detective told Morrison that Arroyo didn’t mention any face mask but had possibly swallowed a baggie of drugs before he was arrested.  

Morrison wrote: ‘Jail staff informed me that there appeared to be a foreign object in his abdomen on an x-ray that appears to be (a) possible ‘baggy’ of illicit substance.’

While Arroyo did test positive for methamphetamine, the autopsy found no baggie in his stomach. Instead, Morrison found the mask.  

In addition, the report says that there was video footage showing Arroyo collapsing onto the floor of the San Diego Jail (pictured) and experiencing ‘seizure-like activity’

In addition, the report says that there was video footage showing Arroyo collapsing onto the floor and experiencing ‘seizure-like activity’. 

It’s unclear what happened in the moments leading up to the suspected seizure.

Wilson’s attorney Julia Yoo told the Tribune that the report doesn’t reference ‘nursing staff attempting to save Omar’s life’. 

‘There is no time reference as to when Omar fell. How long was it between the time of the seizure until the deputies got to the cell?’ Yoo added.