Coroner: Cause of death ‘inconclusive’ for man who fled Lexington deputies

Courtesy: Lexington County Coroner’s Office

Lexington  Co., SC (WOLO) —  Lexington County Coroner Margret Fisher says the results of a preliminary autopsy for the man who authorities say ran away from deputies earlier this week is ‘inconclusive’ to determine the cause of death.

According to deputies, after being confronted about an outstanding warrant for shoplifting is ‘Inconclusive’.

Lexington Deputies say the unidentified man now identified by the coroner’s office as Mr. Bernice Junior Smith, III, was wanted on a outstanding warrant for shoplifting. Wednesday authorities say the man was spotted at a store in the Red Bank area of the county by a Lexington deputy.

Officials say when the deputy recognized the man he approached him and began talking to him about the warrant when deputies say he started to run from them into a wooded area. According to authorities, the responding deputies ran after the suspect using a taser to subdue him after he refused to follow their verbal commands.

Authorities say they handcuffed the suspect and began walking him back to a patrol car when they say he started to display signs of medical distress. Deputies removed handcuffs and rendered aid until paramedics were able to arrive on the scene to take him to a local hospital where he later died.

Lexington County Coroner has not released the identity of the suspect since at the time of this story officials were still in the process of trying to notify family members of his death.

Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon released a brief statement in regards to the incident saying,

“Work is already underway to confirm what happened in this situation and what caused the man’s death,”… “In addition to our own internal review, I’ve asked the State Law Enforcement Division to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.”

Coroner Fisher says since the preliminary results of his autopsy performed at MUSC show ‘no conclusive cause’ of death. Now officials will now wait for histology and toxicology results in hopes of getting a better idea of what how Smith died.

Stay with ABC Columbia News for updates asd this story continues to develop.