Rockland County Jail inmate hangs himself in his cell

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NEW CITY – An inmate in the Rockland County Jail in New City committed suicide by hanging Thursday night, the sheriff’s office announced.

At about 8:07 p.m., corrections officers making their rounds of the housing unit, found the inmate, identified as Jason Mendez, 36, of Washingtonville, alone in his cell attempting suicide by hanging.

Officers entered the cell and performed CPR until emergency medical personnel arrived and continued the attempts to save him, but they were unsuccessful.

The body was turned over to the Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

The district attorney’s office will oversee the investigation into the death, said DA Thomas Walsh II.

Mendez was awaiting trial for the killing of Melissa DeLoatch, and for mowing down her family in an incident that took place in February 2019 at the 7-Eleven store on Central Highway in Haverstraw.

Wash said his office contacted the DeLoach family immediately so they would not hear about the Mendez death through other sources. “It was always our office’s hope to being justice to the to the victims and their families in this horrific case and we are saddened that it will not be the case,” said the DA.




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