A longtime Cuyahoga County corrections officer is under investigation for his actions the day a county inmate died.
The union representing the officer says the 21-year veteran jailer is accused of not conducting mandatory checks of inmates and falsifying records of those checks the day Joseph Arquillo died.
The 47-year-old was in jail on a probation violation, when the county says he became ill on August 28. Arquillo was taken to Cleveland Clinic, but died later that day.
Jail policy requires "checks of prisoners shall be conducted no less than once every 15 minutes."
The medical examiner's office says Arquillo had heroin, fentanyl and cocaine in his system. His death was ruled an accident.
The officer, who we've decided not to name pending the outcome of the investigation, worked the area of the jail where Arquillo was housed according to the union.
A county spokeswoman said Monday that the officer was still working for the county and that no decision on possible discipline had been made.
The county brought in a US Marshal's team to evaluate jail conditions after at least six inmates died in six months.
That evaluation released last month found serious health and safety concerns inside Cuyahoga County's jail.
