The 28-year-old, arrested on drug charges, is thought to have suffered a seizure, a sheriff's spokesman says.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published April 16, 2004
A 28-year-old Tarpon Springs man died in the custody of Pasco sheriff's deputies after being arrested early Thursday on charges of possessing marijuana and a hydrocodone tablet.
Timothy Demetrius Bryant is thought to have died after suffering a seizure, Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. The cause of the seizure is unknown.
"That will be determined by the medical examiner," Doll said.
Bryant had initially been stopped in a Chevrolet Lumina on U.S. 19 in Holiday after he briefly tried to flee from deputies, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.
As he was being booked into the Land O'Lakes Detention Center at 4:21 a.m., Bryant lowered himself to the floor from a chair and began shaking, a jail report said.
A deputy pulled Bryant to the center of the room for his safety, the report said.
When a deputy shined his flashlight in Bryant's eyes to check his pupils, Bryant covered his face and yelled something, the report said.
The deputy walked around Bryant several times, and Bryant's eyes followed him, the report said. Then the deputy noticed blood and saliva coming from Bryant's mouth, and he called emergency medical workers.
Bryant stopped breathing, and deputies attempted CPR, the report said, before he was taken to Spring Hill Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 5:37 a.m. there.
Toxicology reports by medical examiners in Hernando County are pending, Doll said.
Bryant, who lived on Boyer Street in Tarpon Springs, had a lengthy criminal record. He had spent time in prison for convictions including robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and selling cocaine.
He was pursued briefly and stopped about 1 a.m. Thursday after a deputy noticed Bryant looked like a man who had threatened a female friend with a gun earlier.
The deputy said he saw Bryant throw a cigar box out the passenger window of a Chevrolet Lumina. Inside the box, deputies found three hand-rolled marijuana "cigars," the report said.
Deputies said they found a hydrocodone tablet on the Lumina's floorboard and that they did not find any weapons.
- Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com
